


Of Memories and Magic

by MoonshineMadame



Category: The Worst Witch - All Media Types
Genre: Friendship, Memory Magic, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-03-12 20:25:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 22,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13554948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonshineMadame/pseuds/MoonshineMadame
Summary: Magic is given from mother to daughter, so how could Julie Hubble possibly not be magical? That is not the only thing that seems odd to Hecate Hardbroom though it isn't until the summer holiday before Mildred's second year that she can place that feeling. But it only makes things  more complicated. Because if she is right, then someone muddled with Julies memories-and her magic...





	1. 1.

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t own any part of the worst witch!
> 
> This story starts during the summer holiday before Mildreds second year at Cackles!

It was the name on the letter that caught Hecate Hardbroom's attention.

‘Ms Julie Hubble,’ it said, lying on top of the pile in the staff room. The annual letters with dates and lists for the upper years were on one side of the table, the letters for the first years – twice as thick because they also included a witches code and further information – were on the other side and they were all waiting to be send out.

Hecate was not sure what exactly it was but something about those letters kept nagging on her thoughts. She was just about to leave the room again when it hit her. Ms Hubble, Mildred’s mother, had claimed that she had read the code in preparation for the parents evening – but she also claimed not to be a witch. And only witches could read the witches code. (Well, and wizards could but that was beside the point.)

Coming to think of it, Hecate recalled that Julie Hubble hadn’t shown any reaction that first time Miss Cackle had transferred her into her office. Back then, something about the blonde woman seemed eerily strange but what exactly, Hecate could not say. This weird feeling had become even stronger after the parents evening though with everything that happened afterwards, there really had been no time to think about the woman.  
Only now, seeing the name on the letter, the nagging feeling returned and Hecate couldn’t help but think that something about Julie Hubble was familiar. But what?

It wasn’t until the evening when she was writing a letter to Pippa Pentangle that Hecate suddenly realised who Julie Hubble reminded her of.

‘Julieta Hubbard,’ she whispered. ‘The girl who had just disappeared.’

Her letter forgotten, Hecate got up to fetch the old photo that had been taken on her first day at Mistress Broomhead’s Witch Training College. It showed all the 13 girls in her class, smiling at the photographer and totally unaware of what would soon happen. There, in the back row on the left was she herself. And right in the middle stood Julie Hubble. Or at least a young woman who looked remarkably like her. Wilde, blonde curls, freckles and a wide smile – yes, that was the Julieta she remembered.

They had never been close – no one at the College had – but she would never forget the young woman. Not after what happened to her – not that anyone really knew what happened, they had all been too afraid to ask but some the theories had been crazy. Though they all agreed on one thing: It was not something pleasant. That was just impossible. One day, everything was fine and the next day, Julieta didn’t show up for any of her lessons. Nobody dared to ask about her and even though all her things were gone everybody knew that she had not just left. Still, that was what everyone had pretended and after a while, the topic was left alone and slowly forgotten.

Now though, Hecate began to wonder again. What had happened to Julieta? Could Julie Hubble be Julieta Hubbard? If she was, had she recognised her? And why had she kept her daughter away from magic?

There was only one way to get answers. Hecate Hardbroom would deliver this one letter personally.

 

* * *

 

 

Julie Hubble was surprised when a knock on the door interrupted her reading. She didn’t have the slightest idea who could visit her at this time of the day – almost night, actually. Maybe something was wrong with Millie? But no, the Spellbodys would not knock; they would probably just appear in the sitting room if that was the case.  
There was another knock and with a sigh, Julie got up to open the door.

‘Miss Hardbroom?! What…To what do I owe this pleasure?’ It was obvious that Julie tried to hide her surprise when she saw her daughter’s potion teacher standing in front of her but she was failing miserably.

‘Miss Hubble. For once, this is not about your daughter. May I come in?’ Hecate knew that she and Miss Hubble were not on the best terms but apparently something in her voice had been convincing enough for the other woman to step aside and let her in. As soon as the door was shut again, Julie turned around and fixed her eyes on Miss Hardbroom.

‘So if this is not about Mildred, then why are you her? I thought after everything she did for your school you would –‘

‘Actually,’ interrupted Hecate, ‘my visit has nothing to do with Mildred. I am here because of you.’

‘Excuse me?’ Julie couldn’t help but stare at the teacher.

‘I am here to talk about you, Miss Hubble. I found something I thought you might find interesting.’

‘What…Excuse me but what exactly is this? Are you trying to trick me or something?’ Suddenly, Julie seemed more alert, as if the idea of being pranked made her more careful. Also she seemed to have concluded that the presence of the potions teacher was probably a bad omen.

Realising the same, Hecate sighed and pulled the photography from her bag. She wordlessly handed it to Julie who gave her a confused look. Only after Hecate pointed at the woman in the middle the blonde’s eyes widened before a frown appeared on her face.

‘That looks like me – but it can’t be! I am not a witch, Miss Hardbroom, as you know quite well yourself. This girl can’t possibly be me,’ Julie explained seriously before looking at Hecate again.  
‘I don’t have the faintest idea what you want from me but I think it would be better if you left now.’

Now it was Hecate’s turn to frown. Either Miss Hubble was an amazingly good actress or she really had no memory whatsoever of being a witch. That her theory was wrong was something she did not even consider, so she started one last attempt to get Julie to listen.

‘Miss Hubble, I know this all seems to be very strange but this woman disappeared about 25 years ago from her school and up to today no one knows what has happened to her.’ Julie merely glared at her.

‘That is all very well but I still don’t see what that has to do wi –‘

‘Julieta Hubbard.’ At this, Julie froze.

‘What?’ she asked, her frown deepened.

‘Her name was Julieta Hubbard. Do you know that name?’

‘No…yes…I don’t know.’ She shrugged. ‘It sounds familiar – but I have no idea why.’

For a moment there was silence in the hallway both women deep in thoughts, but then Julie spoke up again.

‘Well, Miss Hardbroom, is there anything else I can help you with?’

The teacher sighed.

‘No, I suppose not. I was just hoping you would remember something…’

‘Now wait a minute – you really think that that girl there –‘ Julie pointed at the picture, ‘is me?’ The look she gave Hecate showed clearly that she wasn’t sure whether to laugh or take this serious. She swallowed when Hecate simply nodded at her question but then sighed and simply pointed towards the kitchen.

‘Would you like a cup of tea, Miss Hardbroom?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!  
> Welcome introduction to my latest ff-idea! Since I watched the remake of my favourite childhood TV-show last week, I couldn’t get this one question out of my head. Where do Mildred’s powers come from? And then I re-watched some episodes from the original show and well, this is what my head made of it.  
> This story will probably not have too many chapters but the chapters themselves will most likely be longer than this one.  
> I hope some of you enjoyed this little introduction and leave me a review :)  
> Any mistakes are my own, so if you find any, please let me know!  
> Thank you! ^^


	2. 2.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> Thank you for all the nice comments and reviews you left me – they made me really happy even if I didn’t answer everyone.  
> Here is the next chapter; Julie and Hecate are having a long chat so there is an awful lot of talking. It’s not quite as long as I’d like but I think I this was the best point to cut it.   
> During this chapter there is the mention of Mistress Broomhead, who in the 1998 version of the Worst Witch was the former tutor of Miss Hardbroom and since she really couldn't be considered to be a nice woman there was no reason to invent another 'villian' for this story. So, once again she will be playing that part but since she has no part in the new version (as of yet) I thought I might mention it beforehand to avoid confusion :)
> 
> I hope to get the next chapter up soon but I won’t make any promises I can’t keep for sure, so I hope that for now, you all like this chapter :)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own the worst witch in any form!

Sitting at the kitchen table in the Hubbles’ flat made Hecate feel slightly out of place. It didn’t even help that she looked as un-witchy as she possibly could, with black trousers and a black button down. No, this colourful place was just absolutely unlike her.

Finally Julie placed two teacups on the table and sat down. For a moment, both women sipped their tea in silence, unsure how to begin the conversation but in the end, it was Julie who spoke first.

‘What makes you think I am this girl – Julieta? – Miss Hardbroom?’ she asked. 

‘I am not a witch and I have never been one – I sure would remember it if I was one.’  
Hecate sighed.

‘That is exactly the point, Miss Hubble. There are spells to make people forget certain things –‘

‘But surely I would have remembered after the memory-potion- dust-thing-incident during that parents evening,’ Julie interrupted with a frown. She didn’t realise that Hecate could not recall what had happened that day but the witch merely raised an eyebrow and nodded.

‘Memory dust does make you remember things you have forgotten, yes. But unfortunately, it is a little more complicated. A bottle of memory dust only has so much power and if someone put a spell on your memories – especially if it was whom I suspect – than it is not that simple.’  
Julies frown deepened.

‘What is that supposed to mean?’

‘The stronger the caster of a spell, the harder it will be, to break or undo it again.’

Yes, that made sense to Julie. But it was not enough to convince her entirely – why would Miss Hardbroom think she was a witch in the first place? When she voiced that question, Hecate sighed again.

‘I didn’t give it much thought before, Miss Hubble. To be honest, it took me a while to connect everything. But really, I should have seen it sooner – there were several things that have led me to my conclusion.’

‘What things?’

‘Mildred is witch – but magic is passed on from mother to daughter and from father to son. It does not just appear out of nowhere, yet in Mildred’s case it seems to do just that. Some think that her magic has simply skipped some generations in your family – that has happened before – but personally, I think that’s unlikely. It is too strong for such a phenomenon.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes. Secondly –‘ 

‘Millie’s really a powerful witch?’

‘If she stops being such a terrible student and gets some control over her magic then yes, she could become a formidable witch one day. But now, back to the point. Do you remember that first time we transferred you to the castle?’ When Julie nodded, the witch continued.

‘You didn’t get sick. If it truly was the first time a transference spell was used on you, you would have been.’

‘Your weird theory is based on THAT?’ The blonde interrupted again and Hecate had to fight the urge to roll her eyes before she answered.

‘Yes and no. You seemed familiar back then but I couldn’t say why. When you were at the parents evening, I surely thought you were a witch – after all, you knew the witches code, even quoted it –‘

‘You send it to me,’ Julie pointed out.

‘Yes, we did,’ Hecate answered exasperated – this woman was almost as bad as her daughter when it came to interrupting her! – and sighed.

‘But if you were a non-magical person, you wouldn’t have been able to read it.’

‘Oh.’

‘Exactly. And once again I was unable to place whom you reminded me of and I was quiet confused as to why you would hide our world from your daughter. Only this afternoon, when I was looking at the letters for the parents, it suddenly clicked. The reason you had seemed so familiar was because you are the spitting image of Julieta Hubbard.’   
Hecate stopped to let her words sink in and after a moment, Julie looked up.

‘That is all good and well but still – how could I be Julieta Hubbard? You said she disappeared? What happened to her? How did you even know her?’ She noticed that the witch grimaced slightly at the last question but when she answered, she sounded as controlled as usual.

‘Julieta was in my class at Witch Training College – something similar to a university but there, the students are picked much more thoroughly. The headmistress, Mistress Broomhead;’ she shuddered inwardly at the mention of the name, ‘was not known for her kindness. What was unknown, though, that could have been done about it. But she had quite a reputation within the student body and no one knew what she was really capable of.’  
For a moment Hecate had to stop and collect her thoughts to keep them from wandering of into those terrible memories. Finally, she was certain she could continue without her voice giving her away.

‘The day she disappeared, Julieta had detention. That was the last anyone had seen of her. The next morning her room was empty, all her belongings were gone and she didn’t show up for a single lesson.’

‘What had happened?’ Julie asked with wide eyes. She couldn’t believe what Miss Hardbroom was indicating – maybe she didn’t want to believe it. The entire story sounded like a bad novel…right? The teacher’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts again.

‘No one knows. No one asked.’

‘What about her family?’

‘I don’t know. I suppose she didn’t have any family left because nobody came to looking for her.’

‘That is truly terrible.’ 

For a moment, the two women sat in silence, both pondering over what had just been said.

‘Why…why do you think I could be Julieta? Beside the looks, I mean,’ 

Hecate looked at her with a somewhat weird expression on her face.

‘If I am right, then this is what happened: During her detention, something happened that made Julieta act against the rules. As a punishment for disobeying her, Mistress…Broomhead…must have used some memory spell on her. Maybe she locked up the entire life of Julieta Hubbard, or she took all her memories and replaced them with new ones of a non-magical life or – if she was in a really bad mood – she mixed both techniques. Then, or probably before, she would have sealed Julieta’s magic so she couldn’t access it anymore and then she would have send her away. To live a life without magic and without her memories.’

For a long moment the blonde woman stared at the witch in silence. When she finally spoke her voice was soft but confident.

‘So you are saying that if you are right, this Broomhead-woman has played around in my head and has given me a completely new identity just because I did some schoolgirl rule breaking? Even you must realise that that is an absolutely ridiculous story – I mean, surely something like that is not allowed?’   
At this point she gave Hecate a questioning look but continued speaking before the witch had time to answer.  
‘But, for the moment, let’s just assume you are right, okay? So all of these insane things have happened – then how would I get my memories back?’  
This final question was probably the one she was most interested in at the moment – though she also wanted to know if such practise of memory-altering was a common occurrence in the magical word because if it was, she would have to consider having Mildred exposed to witches and wizards on a daily basis…  
She was pulled out of her thoughts again when the witch started answering her questions.

‘If I am right and your memories are merely locked up, than all we need to do is break the spell – or, more likely, the spells as it would surprise me if she just used one. If she has removed your memories, things are a bit more complicated. In that case, we would have to find the removed pieces and put them back in their original place. But I suspect she mixed both methods, so the first step would be to break the restriction on your magic and then use your own power – with another witches guidance of course – to unlock the remaining memories and find out where there are still gaps in your memory.’ Julie stared at her.

‘You really think this is right, do you?’ At this question the witch looked somewhat insulted. 

‘Of course I believe this is true, Miss Hubble,’ she snapped. ‘If I didn’t, I surely wouldn’t be here.’ Even though she hadn’t meant to do so, Julie realised that she had hurt the witch somehow and she sighed.

‘I’m sorry. This is just so crazy – even crazier than the things I learnt that day at your office.’ 

Hecate gave her a curt nod, accepting her apology and Julie continued.

‘So if I am really Julieta Hubbard, how will you be able to know? It’s not like you can go into my head and look if there are any spelled memories – right?’ Suddenly the doubt in her voice was obvious and Hecate felt like she had to give her some reassurance.

‘Getting into someone’s head, as you just put it, is highly illegal, as most mind-magic. But there is one exception: If you actually allow someone to enter your mind. So no, I did not plan using such magic on you,’ she hastily added when she saw the blonde’s wide eyes.   
‘If I had to find out the truth, I would look for your magic first. If there is witchcraft, bound by a spell, then it is likely that I am right and there will be spells on your mind too.’

‘But that would not really help, would it? Just knowing, I mean.’

‘Oh, it would be. Based on that knowledge, a witch could – with your approval of course – see into your mind and find out how exactly it was altered.’

‘So you would have to see into my mind,’ Julie said not unkind. Hecate though shook her head.

‘Someone would have to, yes. But who, well, that is up to you. Though there are only so many witches capable of those kinds of spells – as I said that kind of magic is not one that is practiced a lot. Also, whomever you choose will not go through your mind bur sorely look for traces of magic.’

Once again Julie fell silent while she was trying to compensate everything she just heard. Yes, it sounded absolutely insane but then again, it was coming from the deputy of the WITCH SCHOOL her daughter had decided to go to a year ago. So maybe she should redefine ‘crazy’…  
On top of that Julie didn’t think Miss Hardbroom to be the kind of person who would make something like this up. She was just too serious for that – though she suddenly wondered if that maybe had something to do with that former teacher she had mentioned – then one she blamed for Julieta’s disappearance. 

One glance around the room, full of Mildred’s paintings on the walls and spell books on the kitchen counter, and her decision was made. Julie looked up from her teacup and locked eyes with the witch whose eyebrows shot up.

‘Could you see if there is some magic in me, Miss Hardbroom?’


	3. 3.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> Thank you for all your lovely coments, they motivated me to write an entire chapter yesterday :)  
> I also have several ideas on how to start the next chapter - would you like Mildred to be in it or should I wait a little longer for her to make an appearance? I can't decide...  
> I'll try to update once a week from now on but I won't set a specific day - and now, enjoy this chapter!

_‘A witch’s magic grows with every year she ages. To harness her powers to their full extinct, a witch must be of age. Before that, trying to use all of her power can leave severe damage on both magic and mind. Therefore, a witch’s magical education begins approximately at the age of eleven, when she is at a stage of some control over her power and old enough to see the dangers of her usage of magic.  
A witch-child’s magic is ‘visible’ for any adult witch, unless it has beforehand been shielded by another witch. To keep other witches from ‘seeing’ the full extinct of the power she possesses, a witch is taught how to conceal her magic around the age of thirteen, about two years into her schooling. To prepare for this piece of magic, the following process has been established as the most sufficient:_

  1. _Close your eyes and look inside yourself_
  2. _Focus on the feeling of magic (tingling in the fingertips, a feeling of warmth, etc.)._
  3. _If you find yourself having difficulties doing this, a grown witch can guide you. Take her hand and she will let magic flow into you. Follow this feeling as it will guide you towards your own magic._



_Magic is visualised differently by every witch though everyone describes it as being a light, usually in blue, white, silver or red, less commonly in gold. For some it seems to take the shape of a ball, for others it seems to take any other shape, even entwining around something. This something is the witch’s soul, which is closely connected to her magic. The closer magic and soul are intertwined, the more is the witch guided by emotions. The brighter the light of magic, the more powerful she is._

_To hide her magic from those surrounding her, the witch has to visualise her ‘light’ dimming down or ‘locking’ it in to be shielded. In the beginning this may take a lot of concentration but it will soon become second nature and the witch won’t even have to think about doing this anymore._

_If a witch seems to have no magic, there are two options._  
_If the magic has been shielded, the shield should be broken before the beginning of the witch’s education so she can learn to shield it herself. Furthermore, if this is not done, accessing her magic could become more difficult with time. It is, however, not impossible for her to practise magic and the shield can usually be undone by any grown witch._  
 _If though the witch’s magic is sealed, she will be unable to access it at all and she cannot do any magic.  In this case her magic can be imagined to be locked behind the shielding door but without having the means of opening it. This makes it impossible for other witches to feel the magic – except if the specifically look for it. Unless the caster of the seal removes it again, another witch is needed as guidance to break a seal on magic – especially if it has been sealed over a longer time. The witch must be guided to her magic and a hole must be broken into the seal. This will allow the sealed magic to work on creating an opening to ‘escape’ the seal, destroying it in the process._ ’

Excerpt from ‘The faces of witch-magic’ by Athena Moonlighter

* * *

 

Julie looked at Hecate with doubt in her eyes.

‘This is what we are going to do now?’ she asked without even trying to hide her scepticism. The witch in question rolled her eyes.

‘This is exactly what we are going to do. It won’t hurt you.’

‘I’m not worried about that,’ Julie huffed, ‘but really, this sounds absolutely insane – it’s all in your mind? You can’t touch or see it?

`You can touch magic as much as you can touch air.’

‘Ah.’

‘And it is a visible process; you do REALLY see it – just not with your eyes.’

‘With what else would I possibly see?’

‘With your inner eye,’ Hecate answered, slowly becoming exasperated with Julies questions.  They had spent the past hour going through all the possibilities and in the end Hecate had simply conjured the book that was currently laying between them. Unfortunately though, it didn’t seem to satisfy Julie’s questions in the least. But before she could ask another question now, Hecate spoke up again.

‘Every witch has a third, inner eye –some can use it to see the future or practice divination but the most common use is to ‘see’ other witches magic and keep an eye on your own magic.’

‘But wouldn’t it be blocked along with my magic?’

Well, that was actually an interesting question but also one that had been researched thoroughly for years. Therefore, Hecate could answer it was certainty.

‘The inner eye can be as much blocked as your nose can stop smelling or your tongue tasting. It can be clouded, like having a cold but that requires the long-term administration of potent potions, or too rational thinking that discounts the principals of magic itself.’

‘Right…so if this is going to work, then how do I even know where to look? For the magic, I mean.’  
At this, Hecate had to suppress a smile. This question was so familiar – every year when they were teaching the girls how to shield their magic, at least one or two would ask the same thing.

‘It’s instinct.  Once you feel the magic, you will know what to do – not consciously but instinctively.’

The blonde woman took a deep breath.

‘Fine.’ She looked Hecate straight in the eye. ‘Let’s do this.'

The witch nodded and laid her hands on the table, her palms facing upwards. Julie hesitantly placed her own hands on top and gave her opposite one last look. To her surprise, the other woman smiled at her.

‘It’s going to be fine. Trust me.’ She gave Julie’s hands a gentle squeeze and then they both closed their eyes.

 

 

 

At first, Julie felt nothing, Just when she was about to open her eyes and tell Hecate that it wasn’t working though, she did actually feel something. It was a familiar feeling, warm, like the sun in the morning, and reassuring. It went up her arms and into her chest and spread through her entire body from there – and then it suddenly wasn’t a feeling anymore, she could actually SEE something:

The feeling had turned into a vein of golden, sparkling lights that somehow reminded Julie of fireflies. She didn’t linger on the thought though and instead gave herself to the strange sensation of being swept away by the lights.

Then, all of a sudden, they stopped moving. If they had been moving in the first place. But Julie couldn’t possibly tell. She looked around and saw why they had stopped. In the midst of the black nothingness hung what looked like an iron ball, right above the crown of a big tree.  Why there was a tree Julie didn’t know but it seemed to be more or less fine, maybe it was yearning for light? It did look a little sad…But then they started moving again and Julie decided to focus on the metal ball.

Was that what her magic had been locked into? If it was, then how on earth were they going to destroy it? Before she could think of a plan to do so, the golden light that she had by now identified as Hecate Hardbroom's magic, formed itself into a long, arrow like something and headed straight towards the iron ball.

First nothing happened. The golden vein was hitting the ball at one point and as soon as the light touched the surface it spread out, sticking to it like a layer of paint. But where the light was focused, a tiny bit of it seemed to be streaming inside the ball. A blue light emitted, so little that it was almost invisible, and Julie acted on instinct.

Later, she was unable to describe what she did, even less could she put the feeling in words. All she could say afterwards was that she felt a missing part of her slowly coming back. Somehow she connected with the blue magic inside the iron ball – was it even iron? – and while her daughters teacher was slowly dissolving it from the outside, she let her own magic do so from within.

It was just the magic and them. They were working together, jet they were each on their own – it was simply impossible to describe.

Just as both women were on the edge of their power, already in worry they had failed, the magic prison burst into nothingness. Suddenly Julie felt like she had nothing to hold on anymore – and then the golden light was gone and Julie gasped as she opened her eyes.

 

 

 

The woman on the other side of the table was staring and her and she was staring right back. Just for a moment, then Hecate moaned and rested her face in her hands. It was only then that Julie felt her own exhaustion – as if she had run a marathon after being awake for 48 hours straight. By the look on her face, Hecate felt the same.

Still, even though she was dead tired, Julie felt different. More…complete. As if there had been a part of her missing and she had only just got it back. Then she realised that that was EXACTLY what had happened.

‘It worked,’ she whispered. The other woman looked up.

‘It did indeed.’

They fell silent again, both to worn out to really comprehend what they had just done.

‘I really am a witch.’ Julie didn’t get a response but she didn’t really expect one. 

‘What’s going to happen now, Miss Hardbroom?’ she finally asked.

‘Hecate.’

‘What?’

‘You may call me Hecate, Miss Hubble.’

‘Oh – then you must call me Julie.’ Hecate tilted her head slightly in agreement.

‘The next thing to happen is regaining some power– rest and sleep. Magical exhaustion at this level can only be helped with sleep to let the magic regenerate -,’ at this, she actually yawned, ‘-and then you can ask someone to have a look at your memories.’

‘Would you?’ The dark haired witch looked up in surprise.

‘You want me to do that?’

Julie shrugged.

‘Without you, none of this would be happening in the first place. Besides, you are the only witch I know.’

‘Fine. But not tonight – I must head back to the castle and you should go to bed too.’

The blonde nodded.

‘I will. Thank you, Hecate.’

She stood up and immediately felt another wave of exhaustion hit her – but then she caught sight of Hecate. The witch was clinging to the table and looked about ready to faint.

 _‘Of course, she has used even more magic than I did,’_ Julie realised as she watched her new friend. Or whatever they were now.

‘I might not know much about magic right now,’ she began, ‘but even if you weren’t a witch wouldn’t let you go anywhere in that state. Sit down, I’ll grab a blanket – you’ll stay here tonight.’ She didn’t wait for any protest but the fact that Hecate merely sat down and started to unpin her bun spoke true enough of how spent she really was.

When Julie came back to the kitchen a few minutes later, the woman had stepped out of her pumps – an uncharacteristic choice, she noted – and her long hair was falling down her back. She seemed a bit steadier on her feet now as she followed her to the sitting room.

‘Thank you, Julie,’ she said and gave the blonde one of her rare smiles. Julie smiled right back.

‘You’re welcome.’

She turned to leave but stopped again before closing the door.

‘G’dnight Hecate.’

‘Sleep well, Julie.’


	4. 4.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry that this chapter took so long, I just didn’t have the time to type it earlier this week. Today was a snow day here though, so I had loads of time to finish it and I hope you all like it :)  
> I’m also really looking forward to next weeks episode and seeing HB letting her hair down quite literally – even if it is just a spell!

‘MUUUUM! I’M HOME!’ was the first thing Mildred shouted when she appeared in the hallway. Mrs Spellbody had arranged with her mum that she would transfer her home at the end of her stay with Maud but now it seemed as if her mum had actually forgotten her.

When she didn’t get a response to a second call, Mildred frowned. Where was her mum? Had something happened?

After dumping her bag and jacket on the floor, she wandered into the kitchen – maybe her mum was once again wearing her headphones and couldn’t hear her because of them? But the kitchen was empty except for two disserted teacups on the table. That actually made Mildred’s frown deepen – her mum never had friends over…

Suddenly, she heard a sound coming from the direction of the sitting room but when she whirled around to see what was wrong, she stopped dead in her tracks. The woman on the sofa wasn’t her mum. Her mum’s hair was blonde, not black. Then the woman turned her face towards Mildred and the girl gasped.

‘Miss Hardbroom?!’ she whispered. ‘ _What is she doing here – and what is she wearing?!’_

To say that she was absolutely flabbergasted would be an understatement. She just couldn’t stop staring at her teacher, even knowing that if the woman woke up and caught her, she would be quite mad. _But really_ , Mildred tried to justify herself, _she didn’t look like herself AT ALL!_ Her hair was actually quite long but what had surprised Mildred most was that HB of all people – HB! – was wearing trousers. Fine, they were black but if she was completely honest, Millie wasn’t sure what she would think if she would suddenly be wearing colour.

After standing motionless in the doorway for what seemed like forever, Mildred shook herself and wandered straight into her mum’s bedroom.  Just like HB Julie was still asleep and her daughter couldn’t help but wonder what on earth she had missed. Her mum sleeping till midday? Yes, that was one thing – but HB? Really, what had they been doing?!

‘Mum?’ She sat down on her mother’s bed and gently started shaking her. ‘Mum, it’s time to get up!’

‘ ‘s it already mornin’?’ came the mumbled response and Mildred stared disbelievingly at her mum.

‘It’s lunchtime,’ she answered and that seemed to do the job. Julie sat straight in her bed with a start. For a moment, she looked around the room in confusion but then her eyes settled on her daughter. Even though she pulled her into a tight hug, Julie was frowning.

‘Darling, are you okay? What are you doing here?’

The girl nodded.

‘Of course I’m fine. Maud’s mum transferred me back as she promised –‘

‘I thought she would bring you home on Sunday?

Mildred gave her a startled look.

‘It is Sunday, mum.’

‘No, it’s not, silly – it’s Saturday,’ Julie argued but her daughter shook her head in disagreement and pointed at the alarm clock on the nightstand.

‘See, it’s Sunday, mum. Even your clock says so!’

For a moment Julie was speechless – and Mildred immediately used the silence to ask the most pressing question on her mind.

‘Mum? Why is Miss Hardbroom sleeping on our sofa?’ Her mother didn’t answer. To be honest she wasn’t completely awake, yet she felt somewhat more alert than ever. Then it all came back to her: How Miss Hardbroom had shown up at her doorstep, her strange theory – and how they had unlocked her magic.

‘It was no dream,’ she mumbled and having the meaning of that sink in made a bright smile appear on her face as she pulled her daughter into a bone crushing hug.

‘She stopped by to go through some things with and when we finished, it was way too late for her to get back to Cackles so I let her stay over – we must have gone to sleep later than I thought if it is already Sunday,’ she explained but even though she nodded, Mildred seemed sceptic.

‘Riiight.’

Julie sighed.

‘Really Millie, it's fine. Why don’t you go and unpack your things while I make us something to eat – I’m starving.’

As soon as Mildred had left the room, Julie fell back into the cushions with a groan. It was SUNDAY NOON! How long had she been sleeping for – 30 hours? 40? She couldn’t tell but it certainly had been dark outside when she had gone to bed. Sighing she got up and dress before venturing into the sitting room to wake their guest.

 

* * *

 

 

Hecate was already awake when Julie stepped in, so she left her alone after pointing out the door to the bathroom. A few minutes later the witch joined her in the kitchen.

She looked much more like herself now with her hair braided and some make up but it still was a far cry from her usual attire as Cackles Deputy Head. Actually, Julie thought, she did look much friendlier like this – not that she would ever say that.

‘Tea?’ she offered but Hecate declined.

‘No, thank you. I really must get back to school now – when would you like me to come back for the mem-‘

‘Shh – don’t, please. I’ve got to tell Millie about this and I haven’t the slightest idea how – maybe I’ll surprise her? But I already have to explain why you are here, so –‘

‘Mildred has seen me?!’ Hecate groaned and buried her face in her hands. ‘Wonderful – if word of that does get out in school, my reputation will be ruined!’

‘Oh, don’t be silly – if I tell her what you have done, she’ll be over the moon!’

‘That will surely be helpful,’ was Hecate’s sarcastic answer to Julie couldn’t help shook her head, fighting back a smile.

‘Whatever. She’ll be home for most of the week but Friday night she will be with Enid at her parents’ show and then stay with her till Saturday. Maybe you could come then?’ Julie suggested but Hecate frowned.

‘Will you be able to control your magic until then without any instructions?’

The blonde rolled her eyes.

‘I’ll be fine. Worst case I’ll just borrow some of Millie’s books – don’t look at me like that, I’m just joking! Really!’

Hecate huffed though she didn’t say anything else and instead changed the topic.

‘You’ve seen how much energy was needed to break the seal – I am not sure if it wouldn’t be a good idea to ask someone else to join us the next time. Because we will need even more power for that and I am uncertain if the two of us can provide it on our own.’

Somehow this request didn’t surprise Julie. Breaking the seal on her magic had worn both of them out completely and there was more than just one spell to break on her memories. So it would make a lot of sense to ask someone to help them. She looked at the witch.

‘Do you already have someone in mind?’

The woman shrugged.

‘Usually I would suggest Ada – Miss Cackle – but after her ordeal with Agatha I don’t think she is the right witch for this. Besides, her speciality is not exactly in the field of mind magic. However, I do know someone who might be of assistance – she actually wrote her thesis about the impact of memory spells.’

‘Really? Who is this witch?’

‘Maybe your daughter has mentioned her – have you ever heard of Pippa Pentangle?’

Julie stared at her.

‘Wasn’t she the one who offered Millie a scholarship at her school?’

‘Yes, she did indeed.’

‘And you want to ask her to help with those?’ Julie pointed at her head. ‘Do you trust her? It’s just, Millie said she’s a bit quirky,’ she backpedalled when she saw Hecate’s offended look.

‘Quirky…yes, that she is. But I trust her, Julie. I wouldn’t have suggested asking her if I didn’t.’

‘Alright. Would you ask her, then?’

‘Of course. I will let you know if she’s coming along on Friday.’ She grabbed her little black bag and fixed Julie with her dark eyes. ‘Are you sure you will be fine?’

‘Yes, I am sure,’ Julie answered and you could almost hear her roll her eyes even though she smiled. ‘You’re off?’

Hecate nodded.

‘I really should get going now.’

 

* * *

 

 

Neither woman saw Mildred husting back into her room just before they stepped into the hallway. The girl though, was sitting on her bed, trying to wrap her head around whatever it was that she had just heard.

What on earth were her mum and Miss Hardbroom up to? What did they need Miss Pentangle for? And what was HB doing here in the first place? It just didn’t make sense to Mildred. After all, her mum had made quite clear to everyone that she wasn’t a witch. Yet Miss Hardbroom had asked her about her magic.

But that was silly! Her mum would never keep it from her if she had magic and surely HB would be the last person she would ask for help – especially not after their fight at the parents’ evening.

Right?

 Because if she was completely honest, Mildred wasn’t completely sure anymore what was possible and what wasn’t. She had, after all, to consider that Miss Hardbroom had actually been asleep in her sitting room – something she wouldn’t ever have thought could happen. And from what she had heard, her mum and HB seemed to be getting along fine – they had even called each other by their first names!

Maybe it wasn’t HB after all? The woman she had seen looking through the keyhole into the kitchen certainly didn’t look much like her teacher – maybe HB had a twin to? A nice one?

_‘Don’t be silly, Mildred,’_ she scolded herself at this thought, _‘Miss Hardbroom is not evil like Agatha – she’s just very strict and not as kind as Miss Cackle.’_

So the question stood: Why had the Deputy Headmistress of her school shown up at her home if it wasn’t for her? Because even though it would have been the most natural assumption, Mildred didn’t really believe that. If HB had been there because of her, than she wouldn’t have left like that, that she was sure of.

With a deep sigh the girl got up. Since her teacher had just left, she would take up her mum on the food offer now. And maybe she could grill her for answers while they were eating…

 

* * *

 

 

Julie was in the kitchen frying bacon when Mildred entered.

‘Hey darlin’ ,’ she smiled her daughter and the girl smiled right back before she started to set the table.

‘So,’ Julie asked once they were seated, ‘how was your week with Maud?’

‘It was great, mum! We did all sorts of cool magical stuff…’ And for a moment, she forgot how mad she actually was at her mum for keeping something from her and told all about the things she had done with her friend.

‘It’s sad that Enid couldn’t come too – she would’ve loved it!’ she finally concluded with a woeful smile. ‘What about you, mum? What did you do with all your free time?’

‘Well,’ Julie laughed, ‘I had as much free time as I got when you’re at school, so I went to work and did nothing special.’

‘What about Miss Hardbroom? What did she want?’

‘Well…’

‘Mum! She didn’t just stop by to say ‘hi’!’ Mildred frowned. ‘She would maybe do that with Ethel’s mum but –‘

‘Darlin’,’ she was interrupted by her mother. Julie looked very seriously. ‘Miss Hardbroom was here because she found something about where your magic comes from.’

Mildred’s eyes went wide as she stared at her.

‘What did she say? Why would she come to tell you and not stay to tell me? Are there witches in our family? Is it my dad? Or did she say why you are not a witch?’

Now it was Julie’s turn to stare disbelievingly. So many questions in such a short time! Then again, that was her Millie.

‘Actually,’ she began, ‘I didn’t mean to tell you about any of this now. I wanted to wait until it is all confirmed and sorted to not give you any false hopes but I suppose that won’t make you happy. So just listen, ‘kay darlin’?’

When Mildred nodded, Julie took a deep breath to prepare herself.

‘It seems,’ she started, ‘that I might am a witch.’

‘What?! But… why didn’t you tell me? I could have –‘

‘Millie, calm down! I didn’t tell you because I can’t remember!’

‘Huh?’ The girl stared blankly at her mother. ‘But how could you not remember? You inhaled an entire bottle of memory powder!’

‘Well, that’s what I thought too. But Hecate – Miss Hardbroom – said that there are memory spells stronger than the powder.’

‘Oh.’ Millie fell silent for a moment, thinking about what she had just heard before she looked at her mum again.

‘If you don’t remember anything and you don’t seem to have magic, then how come you think you are one now?’

So Julie told her daughter almost everything that had occurred after the teacher had shown up two evenings ago, her theory and what she had explained about her magic and memories and everything else. After she had finished, Mildred was so stunned that she didn’t say a word for almost five minutes before looking at her mum.

‘I’m really happy, mum – if this is going to work out and you are a witch, we can actually do magic together!’

‘Yes, we could do that – if it works out.’

‘And maybe you can help me with my magic – you must have been good if you got into the same school as HB!’ Both mother and daughter laughed at that.

‘I suppose you’re right. And you’re fine with this?’

Mildred nodded enthusiastically and beamed at her mother.

‘Of course I am, mum – even if it means I have to see HB during my holidays.’

‘Oh, shush, she’s not that bad.’

‘Yeah, sure…’

Laughing, Julie hugged her daughter and they both sat together, laughing and joking happily as if a weigh had been lifted of their lives.


	5. 5.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After just watching yesterdays episode, I decided I simply had to upload today and not wait until tomorrow! And I have to admit, I am quite a bit jealous of HB's hair xD
> 
> So, this chapter is a little different than the others but I hope you like it anyway!  
> I am not quite sure when I will update again as I will be at the C2C this weekend and hence have little time to write. But I will try my best not to take too long!  
> I really want to thank you all for being so positive about this story! When I first started it, I was afraid it wouldn’t be much liked due to the lack of pairings – but most of you seem to be fine with it anyway, so thank you all loads!

‘Let me get this straight,’ the blonde woman said as she gazed at her opposite. ‘This insane idea of yours actually turned out to be correct and now you are asking me of all people for help with whichever spells are on Miss Hubbles mind?’

Across from her, the dark haired woman frowned slightly.

‘Of course I would ask you first, Pippa. You –‘

‘But why?’ Pippa Pentangle demanded to know.

When Hecate had come over for their weekly afternoon with tea and chatter today, she had immediately known that something was on her friends mind. Though she hadn’t quite expected any of the things she had been told then. Not that she doubted it – no, Hecate had always been painfully honest – but it just seemed a bit too strange, even for the magical world. Then again, the Witch Training College had been shut down when word of the procedures under Mistress Broomhead’s leadership became public and were backed up by more and more alumni. When the woman had received her sentence in court, it had not been kept a secret that there were many more unreported crimes she should have to justify for.

But what really surprised Pippa was that her friend was now asking HER for help.  So she simply stared at her friend while she was waiting for an answer.

‘Well,’ the other witch started, ‘there are only two people I would ask for assistance in such a delicate matter – Ada and You, Pipsqueak. Considering all she has been through recently, I think Ada deserves a break – don’t interrupt me – but aside from that, I thought memory spells are your domain anyway, aren’t they? ‘

Now it was Pippa’s turn to frown.

‘Whatever makes you say that?’

‘You wrote your thesis about them?’

‘You’ve read my thesis?’ The blonde stared blankly at her friend, obviously very surprised at this.

‘Of course I did!’

‘But we hadn’t spoken in years when I published it!’

‘And?’

‘Why would you have read it then?’ Pippa still couldn’t comprehend her friend’s actions, though the woman in question didn’t seem to actually get her point.

‘Just because we were not talking to each other doesn’t mean I would let a great thesis slip past me.’

‘Well, if you put it like that,’ Pippa huffed, smiling, ‘it doesn’t sound anywhere near nice as it did before.’

It took Hecate a moment to understand what her friend was actually saying but then a slight smile spread across her face too and she rolled her eyes. After a moment, Pippa spoke again though this time her voice sound quite serious.

‘Did you really think it was that good?’

‘Of course –why? Don’t you think it was?’

The blonde shrugged.

‘I don’t know…it just always seemed like I missed something that new researches have brought to light and then it was incomplete again. Maybe I should rewrite it at some point to include those new findings – after all, I wrote it twenty years ago.’

‘Perhaps you should do that – but maybe wait until after we are done with Julies memories?’

The two women looked at each other, Hecate still waiting for an answer to the question whether Pippa would help with the removal of the memory spells and Pippa herself wondering if Julie would mind being her ‘guinea pig’. Finally she smiled.

‘I suppose it would give me a lot more insight into the removal of memory spells and how they affect the mind, wouldn’t it?’ She paused for a second but continued before Hecate had the chance to say anything. ‘You can count on me, Hiccup. I told you I would always help you.’

A broad smile spread over the dark haired witch’s face.

‘Thank you, Pipsqueak.’

 

* * *

 

 

Two hours later, when Hecate had returned home, Pippa Pentangle went into her private office – since she lived in her school all year around she had a comfortable 3-room-suite in a side wing of the castle – and opened a cabinet she hadn’t opened in a long time. It contained mostly files and documents though not about the students, as those were kept in her official ‘headmistress’ office. One of the things it did contain though was her thesis.

While writing it, Pippa had realised that there was much more to the human mind that was still unknown that what was already discovered. For a while, she had seriously considered going into research but in the end, she had decided to be a teacher. And while she never regretted that choice, her curiosity about the mind had not faded and she had stayed on close contact with many of those who did such research. So, unbeknown to most, Pippa Pentangle had indeed become an expert on all kinds of mind magic. Including memory spells.

Surprisingly, her old paper had actually been about those. So if she wanted to prepare herself for what they were about to do, going through it sounded like a good start.

Pippa shook her head. What they were planning was insane! It wasn’t illegal – probably because no one would ever think of enacting a law about restoring something that was forbidden to be taken in the first place – but she had never heard of anything similar being done before.

Perhaps what Broomhead had done to Julie had been done before but no one knew about it? That would make sense because if you didn’t remember, how would you report it?

 _‘Then again…no, that would be really bad!_ ’ Pippa thought when she realised what her new thought could mean.

What if someone had been in Julies place before and someone had tried to help? But there were no reports because it didn’t end well?

Suddenly, Pippa had a list of worst-case scenarios in mind, not one better than another.

Reuniting with her memory could cause Julies magic to leash out in defence and hurt Hecate and her. The long time since the memory spell was place could have made it nearly impossible to be removed without causing damage in later memories. Or it had merged together with Julies new memories, grown stronger and while trying to remove it, they would al fall into a coma of magical exhaustion. Or Julie’s mind couldn’t cope with a ‘new’ set of memories and she would go crazy…

 _‘Stop that right now’_ Pippa scolded herself, _‘You are never this negative and you will not start with it now. You will make sure that none of that will happen.’_

If there had been a case like this before, then she would find it. She usually was a very optimistic person and she wouldn’t change that now. Both Hecate and herself were quite formidable witches and they would help Julie (and Mildred) Hubble.

Yes, that would do. Thinking of Mildred made Pippa happy, she had really liked the girl – if she hadn’t, she surely wouldn’t have offered her a scholarship. And Hecate and she did owe it to the girl’s determination and attitude that they had rebuild their friendship…really, helping her mother and making magic easier for her that way was the least she could do!

So, after retrieving her thesis, Pippa made her way to the Cambridge Library of magic to start her research.

 

* * *

 

Hecate looked up from her book in surprise when it knocked.

‘Come in,’ she answered and the door opened to reveal Ada Cackle.

‘Good evening, Hecate,’ the headmistress greeted and Hecate motioned for her to sit down in the armchair across from her own.

‘Good evening, Ada,’ she smiled as she placed her book on the little coffee table beside her.

‘Would you like a cup of tea?’

‘Ah yes, thank you.’

After Hecate had poured her a cup, they sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments, not bothering to talk. After all, this wasn’t the first time they spend their evenings like this. Since they usually were the only people to stay at the academy all summer, they had plenty of time to keep each other company.

To an outsider who knew them though, the scene would have appeared a bit surreal. For once, most people in their lives were students and they had to portray a certain image towards them. Since only few people ever entered her private rooms – apart from her office – Hecate saw no point in keeping them as un-personal for her few visitors.

So a classy but relatively comfortable sitting area with big, soft armchairs by the fireplace would probably be as unexpected as the bookshelves were expected. The second thing surprising any onlookers would be the witches themselves. Well, Miss Hardbroom.

Miss Cackle actually looked pretty much like she always did, maybe a bit better rested but the potions teacher looked much more like the woman Julie Hubble had let sleep over. It might have sounded unbelievable to her students but Hecate actually enjoyed letting her guard down a little during summer. Really, whatever she displayed towards her students, even she got hot in her long black dresses on those hot days! But when she didn’t have to set an example for young witches she saw no fault in dressing a little less witchy…So once again, she was wearing light trousers and a simple button down, her watch like always around her neck and her hair in a pretty braid – courtesy of Pippa, who had decided that her bun looked too strict during tea.

‘How are you coping, Ada?’ She finally broke the silence and the older witch sighed.

‘Well enough. I still can’t believe that Agatha really did this – I know she always wanted the school but that she would go this far…’

‘But now she won’t be able to hurt anyone anymore,’ Hecate tried to reassure her friend.

‘Yes, she won’t come out of that picture any time soon. It’s just, that we have to take such drastic measures – we used to be so close, you know? We did everything together…’

‘But people change. We make decisions and they make us who we are – but Agatha made to many wrong choices to get away with it anymore.’

Once again, Ada sighed.

‘You’re right. Of course you are… what she did was unacceptable. Not only that she took over the school, she also used you –‘ Here, Hecate waved nonchalantly as if to say ‘I’m fine, don’t worry about me’ but Ada didn’t seem to see it as she continued, ‘- and she took Esmeralda Hallow’s powers. There is no way the girl will get them back; I had a call from her mother today.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes. Esmeralda won’t return to Cackles next year.’

‘I’m sorry, Ada,’

Hecate said and she meant it. Ada had deserved none of those things – if it was up to her, nothing bad would ever happen to Ada, as she was probably the kindest person she knew.

‘Don’t be, dear. You couldn’t have done any more about it, you already did all you could,’ the older witch said as she gave her a smile.

‘But what about you? I haven’t seen you around all weekend – I was already starting to worry.’

Ah, yes, somehow, Hecate had expected this question since Ada had knocked. They usually spend most of their evenings during the summer together so surely Ada had noticed her absence. She sighed.

‘I’m fine, no need to worry. I went out on an errand and I got held up and things took longer than I expected,’ she tried to explain but the headmistress looked doubtfully at her. Hecate sighed again. She wasn’t entirely sure why she didn’t just tell Ada everything, considering that they had been close friends and confidants for years. Maybe because the connection to Broomhead reminded Hecate of the beginning of her time at Cackles?

She had just graduated from Witch Training College after four torturous years and had applied for a position as a potions teacher at Cackles and several other schools. Only Ada Cackle, though, had seen behind the façade and decided to give her a chance. It had taken a while for Hecate to warm up to the headmistress but in the end, she had opened to Ada and they had become good friends.

Still, apart from the few times right when she started at Cackles’ they had never discussed her schooling and talking about it now just seemed odd to her. Nevertheless she knew she had to offer her friend something more – Ada certainly wasn’t satisfied with the answer she got. After pondering for another moment, Hecate looked at the white-haired witch.

‘I went to see Miss Hubble,’ she sad and Ada's eyebrows shot up.

‘What did Mildred do that you had to pay her a visit now?’ she asked, both curious and worried.

‘Nothing. I actually went to see her mother. After everything Mildred has done for us last year, I thought it would be fair to help her a little.’

‘Help her? How?’

‘Well, for a start I wanted to see if Miss Hubble knows anything about magic in her family, anything that could help Mildred settle in.’

‘And? What did she say?’ Now, Ada’s curiosity about the origin of her students’ magic piped up. Her deputy shrugged.

‘Nothing helpful. But we had a long conversation that let us to believe that someone might have muddled with her head.’

‘That’s terrible!’

‘It is indeed. Therefore, I asked Pippa to check her over some time this week.’

‘Pippa Pentangle? How would she be qualified for such a thing?’

‘Well, you could say she is a bit of an expert when it comes to memory magic, so…’ She trailed of but Ada nodded.

‘I didn’t know that – you will let me know what she finds out, will you, Hecate?’

‘Of course. Though I can already tell you that if things turn out the way we hope, we might all be surprised by Mildred next year.’

The older witch smiled knowingly.

‘You already have a suspicion?’

‘Oh yes, a very clear one.’

‘Well, then I hope you turn out to be right. So, tell me,’ she said and took a sip of her tea, ‘what else did Miss Pentangle have to say? Any gossip that would be worth knowing?’

And with a small smile, Hecate told her friend what she remembered from Pippa’s chatter and their conversation turned to lighter matters for the rest of the evening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I just couldn’t resist to have Hecate tell Ada gossip…that image is just to vivid in my imagination to be passed over xD


	6. 6.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> First of all, I have to apologise for the delay with this chapter – I just had a lot to do during the last few weeks and only little time to write. The next chapter should not take as long again but I won’t promise anything. I had no idea how to write the next chapter but while writing the last part of this one earlier, I could suddenly picture everything perfectly, so that’s one problem taken care of xD  
> Now, that’s enough chatter from me, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!

Friday came faster than Julie had expected, yet it felt like the longest week in her life.

Once Mildred had realised that her mum having magic made it possible for them to do spells together, she had insisted they’d go through her first-year spell book and try everything. To their immense surprise, Julie got most of the spells on her first try though she couldn’t explain how she did it. Mildred had then come to the conclusion that once she got her memories back, she surely would know – and maybe then she could even teach her.

On Thursday, HB had mirrored them to inform her that she and Miss Pentangle would arrive around 7pm the next evening, so Julie was quite surprised when she was interrupted by a knock just after 6 o’clock.

Frowning she put Mildred’s history book down and went to answer the door.

‘Well met, Miss Hubble,’ smiled the woman in front of her and bowed in the traditional way but Julie couldn’t help but stare at her. It took her a moment to tear her eyes away and she clumsily imitated the greeting.

‘Well met, Miss Pentangle.’

‘Oh, please. It’s Pippa,’ interrupted her guest and stepped past Julie without waiting to be asked in. She looked around curiously and Julie finally found herself able to compose herself again and show the witch into the kitchen.

Pippa Pentangle was the absolute opposite of all the witches Julie had met yet – or at least, remembered she had met. This witch was much more glamourous, a bit like the woman she usually thought of as ‘looks-but-no-brains’-people. But there was something about her that made her different from them, maybe the intelligent gleam in her eyes? Whatever it was, she reminded Julie more of fairy than of a witch with that pink dress and the blonde curls.

‘I hope you don’t mind me being early but I was on my way back from Cambridge and if I had gone  back to Pentangles first, I surely would’ve been late – besides,’ Pippa smiled, ‘I couldn’t wait to meet you!’

Julie smiled back at her.

‘That’s alright. Can I get you anything? Tea? Coffee?’

‘Coffee, please, if you don’t mind.’

‘Of course not. Please, sit down.’

Still smiling, Pippa sat her bag down in the table before making herself comfortable on a chair and closely watching as Julie was preparing the coffee. She sighed.

‘I wish we had a coffee machine at Pentangles,’ she said somewhat dramatically. Julie turned to look at her.

‘I thought you are the headmistress – couldn’t you just get one?’

‘Oh, well, I could…maybe I should…but I am not sure what my staff would say…’

‘Why wouldn’t say like it?’ was Julie’s next question as she placed the cup in front of the witch and flopped herself on the chair on the other side of the table.

‘Well, most of them would probably like it – they prefer tea, you know, but they wouldn’t mind it. But some of them are quite…incompatible with coffee. They get worse than first years on a sugar high!’ Pippa explained and Julie had the distinct impression that she had to fight really hard to keep a straight face at the memory. Mind you, Julie could sympathise with that – the picture was hilariously absurd!

‘You could get a small one for your office,’ she suggested but the idea was denied with a headshake.

‘I’ll simply enjoy it whenever I’m out,’ Pippa smiled and sipped her coffee. ‘Oh, this is good!’

The surprise in her voice should probably have offended Julie but for some reason it didn’t. Somehow she got the distinct impression that Pippa Pentangle could get away with almost everything without seriously offending anyone.

They continued to talk about everything and nothing for a while before Mildred became the topic of their conversation.

‘She talked about you, you know? That you’d offered her that scholarship and were really nice to her,’ Julie explained and Pippa slightly bowed her head.

‘Well, she just seemed so unhappy – I know how hard it can be sometimes, with mean students. And Hecate can be quite harsh sometimes, even if she just wants the best for you…’

‘Thank you. I’m glad she could talk to you.’

‘I’m not sure if she was actually talking a lot…’was the mumbled answer as Pippa recalled the day of the spelling bee. Julie’s voice pulled her back to the present, though.

‘Is it true you have students from non-magical families at your school?’

‘Oh.’ The blonde witch was obviously startled by the question and she had to think for a moment before she answered.

‘You see,’ she finally started, ‘it is a little more complicated than that. Hecate told you how magic is always given from mother to daughter and from father to son?’

Julie nodded.

‘So if you keep that in mind, than how is it possible for a witch to be born into a non-witching family? That is why Mildred was such a big surprise for everyone.’

‘Then why did Millie say you had kids like her at your school?’

‘Well, as I said, it’s a little more complicated. Sometimes, a witch has a daughter who doesn’t seem to have any magic. Most of the time she has passive magic - sometimes her mother has sealed it away for her safety but that's rare. But if her magic is passive and she has daughter who continues this like – without being interrupted by any sons – then each generation is passively magical. And at some point, it will be turned into active magic again. Then you have a witch whose mother isn’t one but maybe her great-grandmother was one. Skipping two generations are actually most common but sometimes there are more. Or a witch’s granddaughter is a witch again.’

For a moment, Julie was silent as she was considering Pippa’s explanation.

‘That’s what they thought Millie was, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes. And when I told Mildred about my school, that was also what I was talking about. Those coming from this background are a bit looked down upon; they usually are not quite as strong because the magic needs their generation to regenerate from passive to active again. And then they don’t have any previous training, just like Mildred. All that gives them quite a disadvantage-‘

‘Was that why HB said Millie was to powerful?’

‘What?’ Pippa looked confused and Julie quickly elaborated.

‘She mentioned this generation skipping but that she though that Millie was too powerful for that.’

‘That would make sense, so I suppose that was what she meant…anyway, where was I?’

‘Disadvantages?’

‘Ah, yes. A lot of schools are not happy to take skipped-generation-students because – like Mildred – they often struggle with control over their magic, at least in the beginning. And they lack most of the fundamental knowledge about the workings of our world that the others have grown up with…’

‘But you take them anyway.’ It wasn’t really a question but Pippa nodded and when she answered, her words were slow and thoughtful.

‘I believe that it doesn’t matter where our magic comes from. Every magical child should be nurtured and supported to become the best it can. Heritage is not everything, there are much more important values.’

Julie couldn’t help but smile at her words. Pippa Pentangle really was the complete opposite of every other witch she had yet met and she found that quite refreshing.

‘That’s what I’m always telling Millie too. That there are more important things than who your witchy ancestors are, I mean. But I’m still glad when this is over and we know if I’m really the witch HB thinks I am…’

At this, Pippa’s face seemed to darken.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing – oh, stop looking at me like that, I’ll tell you!’ Pippa sighed and her face grew serious as she looked at Julie.

‘What we attempt to do … nothing remotely like it has ever been done before.’

‘And?’

‘And that means that no one knows how it will actually work. Or what could go wrong! All I know is that it will not be as easy as Hecate thought. The –‘

She was interrupted by a knock on the door and a quick glance at her watch told Julie that her second guest was just in time.

Five minutes later Hecate Hardbroom had joined the two others at the table and was now sipping at her coffee while she was listening to Pippa.

‘So, I was just telling Julie that I am not sure if this is going to be as easy as you thought.’

‘That is the reason you are here, Pippa.’

‘Well, yes –‘

‘What exactly do you mean by that?’ interrupted Julie and the two witches turned their attention back to her.

‘You,’ she mentioned at Hecate, ‘said we just had to undo those various memory spells, right?’

The dark haired witch nodded.

‘But we don’t know which spells have been used, which puts us at a disadvantage. Though that’s not THAT bad, there are general counters for memory spells that should work well enough for the beginning, and then we might find out what was used anyway.’

‘That’s what I had planned to do anyway,’ Hecate stopped her friend’s explanation with a frown, obviously waiting for Pippa to make her point. The witch complied with a small sigh.

‘What I fear is that all of Julies memories have been removed – then we could do a lot of damage and –‘

‘She hasn’t done that.’

‘How would you know, Hecate?’

‘Because, Pippa, that would be to easy. Just find the memories and restore them, then everything will be fine again? No, that is way too simple.’

For a moment, the blonde witch looked at her old friend with a thoughtful gaze but then she simply continued without a comment.

‘Right. Now, no one has ever done something like this, at least I couldn’t find any information about it. I had a few concerns and in the past week, I did a lot of research. It turned out that most of my fears have been unnecessary – but some were not.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Julie interrupted again and this time, Hecate glared at her.

‘It means that it is a risky thing to do but we all knew that before – ‘

‘So we did.’

‘– but the greatest danger is that we could exhaust ourselves. I know, Hecate, we are both well trained and experienced, but still. If we have to stop halfway through recovering you memory it won’t hurt you was I feared, if necessary we could shield it because just having half of your memory would be uncomfortable. But you wouldn’t suddenly turn insane as I feared, simply because the memories are your own and already linked to you.’

‘But it would be unpleasant and confusing,’ pointed Julie out and the two other witches nodded.

‘We also have to make sure that we start undoing the spells in the right order,’ Pippa them continued, ‘otherwise we will end up with a tangled mess of spells that are half undone and half connected or covered by others. Julie, that means for you that the first things you will remember are the last things that happened – assuming, of course, that she worked her way through your head chronologically.’

‘But that’s good, isn’t it?’

The two blondes looked at each other, both frowning slightly.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, if the first thing I remember is what happened last, then I can tell you how the mess in my head came to, right?’

Pippa’s eyebrows shot up.

‘That’s right. I didn’t even think of that…’

‘But you might remember some unpleasant things too, Julie. We don’t know exactly what … Mistress Broomhead did to you but you should be prepared for the worst. She was a quite unpleasant woman.’

_And that put it lightly_ , Hecate added as a silent afterthought to her words. But Julie just shrugged.

‘Someone who messes around in other people’s heads I wouldn’t picture as a nice person.’

They fell silent for a moment, Pippa lost in thought about the magic they were about to perform, Julie trying to imagine why Hecate didn’t seem to trust her judgement of their former teacher and Hecate herself contemplating whether or not she should tell Julie about the methods used at witch training college. In the end, she decided against it – as soon as she remembered, she would know and understand.

‘One more thing,’ Pippa said, pulling them about of their thoughts again, ‘as soon as anyone begins to feel exhaustion, let us know! If you don’t and fall unconscious while mind and body are separated, you might never be able to wake up again. I know Hecate could probably pull us back together before damage is done, but I’d rather not risk that. And Julie?’

‘Yes?’

‘Tell us if we hurt you.’

‘Didn’t you just say that this wouldn’t hurt her, Pippa?’

‘It won’t do any lasting damage. But Julie, some of your real memories, especially the ones of your childhood, might have merged together with the ‘new’ memories that cover them. If they did, just undoing the spell would be painful – if you tell us, we slowly detangle them. That would take longer but it should work just as well.’

‘Alright,’ Julie nodded. ‘But how do I tell you?’

Hecate and Pippa gave each other a look.

‘What?’ Now Julie became suspicious and Hecate sighed.

‘That can’t be explained in words. Don’t worry, the moment we start, you will know what to do.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘I was right the last time, wasn’t I?’

Having no answer for that, Julie simply nodded and took a deep breath.

‘I don’t think I’ll get any more ready than I am.’

Pippa nodded and put her hands on the table for Hecate and Julie to take.

‘Then let us begin.’


	7. 7.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!  
> Here we go with the next chapter – it is a bit shorter than the others but I felt like that was the best point to stop when writing it or it would have been far, far, far too long! But the next chapter is already in process, so it shouldn’t be long until the next update. Until then, have fun with this one!

When Julie opened her eyes, she was once again surrounded by black nothingness. But unlike the first time she didn’t feel like she was floating. Actually she was pretty sure that she was standing on something solid but however much she tried, she couldn’t even see her feet – or her hands, even if she put them right in front of her eyes.

Suddenly a pinkish light appeared right next to her and for a moment, Julie was almost blinded by its brightness as it spread into many little lights and when she was able to see again, it was just turning into Pippa. A weird looking Pippa – she still looked like her, yes, except that there was a glow on her skin that surrounded her like a pink aura. When she had materialised completely – though she was still somewhat transparent, Pippa looked around.

‘Julie? Hecate?’ she called and it took Julie a moment to realise that the blonde could not see her. And that she hadn’t moved her lips when she was calling.

‘Wonderful. I’m invisible. Now how am I supposed to change that?’ Julie wondered and as if she heard her, Pippa’s eyes settled upon her.

‘There you are,’ she smiled and when Julie looked down again, she saw herself becoming visible very much the same way as Pippa had just moments before. Her eyes widened as she realised that she was glowing as well – but not pink like her friend. Instead, a white glowing dust had settled on her skin and combined with her half transparent appearance, Julie thought that she must look like a ghost.

‘What on earth is this?’ she thought to herself, still gaping at her hands.

‘Not on earth. We are not in a physical place anymore,’ sounded Pippa’s voice again, ‘which means you can’t have a physical body. What you see is a form made up by your mind and your magic. And please, stop talking – thinking so fast! If you want to say something, just focus on the thought.’

‘Try to imagine the rest of your thoughts are looked away behind a door, that way we won’t hear everything you think,’ added Hecate’s voice out of nowhere but then a golden light appeared and turned into a glowing image of Hecate.

‘There you are! I already feared you’d got lost on your war here!’

Julie was fascinated by the chuckle she heard in Pippa’s voice – she hadn’t known it was possible to do so in youth thoughts.

‘Very funny,’ answered Hecate promptly, ‘Are you ready to go?’

‘Go where?’ Julie asked and focused the words. To her surprise, both of the witches flinched.

‘No need to scream!’

‘Don’t focus that much,’ explained Pippa.

‘Oh, I’m sorry –‘

‘It’s alright. You haven’t done this before, it takes a bit of practice to get used to this way of communication.’

‘To answer your original question,’ Hecate interrupted before Pippa could elaborate, ‘this is your mind. Your sub-conscience, to be precise. We have to go to the memory section.’

‘Ah.’ The last bit did actually make sense to Julie but she was surprised that her sub-conscience was such a dark, empty place. Even with their three glowing forms brightening up the room, Julie couldn’t see the floor beneath her feat.

‘Are you coming?’

Looking up, she saw that Pippa and Hecate were reaching for her hands a little to her right and she hurried towards them. As before in her kitchen, Julie took their hands but this time, nothing happened so she gave the witches questioning looks. They didn’t seem the least concerned though which slowly made Julie relax.

‘Try and think of a happy memory,’ came Hecate’s voice out of nowhere.

To think, Julie closed her eyes and almost immediately Mildred appeared before her inner eye, maybe five years of age and with the new bike she had got for Christmas. It was spring and they had spent the afternoon cycling around the countryside by the river and….

‘Ah, there it is.’

Julie opened her eyes and instantly spotted the ‘it’ Pippa was refereeing to. Right in front of them a door had appeared, white and shiny but not translucent as the three women.

‘That is the entrance to your memory-room,’ explained the blonde witch, sounding much more solemn and serious than she had the entire evening.

Once they had reached it, Julie realised that she was the one who had to open it. The handle felt strange, like an ancient dry book that would crumble or dissolve into dust at the faintest touch. But it didn’t and the door swung open to reveal another dark room.

It was only when they had all stepped inside that Julie noticed that this room wasn’t empty.

There, right in front of them, was a huge chest of drawers, maybe two and a half meters high and so long that Julie couldn’t see where it ended. It seemed ancient, like an old apothecary cabinet and under closer inspection she saw that each drawer had a date and a time written on it. Each drawer must contain a memory, she realised. The ones closest to them were all dated in the past week and the last label, a few steps to her right, was timed just after Pippa’s arrival earlier that evening. But other than the few drawers underneath, there were no more left in the cabinet and Julie frowned.

‘One row per day. It expands as it needs to, just as your mind is in constant change.’

‘So if this is today, we have to go that way?’ Julie asked and pointed to her left. Whatever Hecate’s answer was though, she didn’t really hear it because she had suddenly spotted something else.

The entire cabinet was covered with faint, golden lines that seemed to get thicker and more visible the further left you looked.

‘Is that..?’

‘Yes. That is the magic that contains your memories.’

Hecate raised one hand as if to trace the lines but stopped herself before her fingers touched the wood. Her golden glow, Julie realised, was much warmer than the one of the magical veins which seemed pale and cold in comparison.

The three of them didn’t talk anymore while walking along the memory-cabinet, all conscious that the further they got, the stronger and more visible Mistress Broomhead’s magic got. It seemed like they had been walking forever when the pattern of the vines suddenly changed, they tangled together, forming a big, tight knot.

The label under the magic marked the 21.02.1994.

‘The day Julieta disappeared,’ said Hecate softly even though it was obvious to both Pippa and Julie that this was the origin of the magic. Had it seemed like soft, almost subtle lines after that day, it had taken the form of thick ropes, tying the drawers shut, before.

‘Do you remember anything from that day?’ asked Hecate but Julie shook her head.

‘I can’t recall it – it is just one of many, you know?’

The witches nodded and Pippa stepped forward to examine the magical mess. After a moment she waved Hecate over and the two witches studied the light together in silence. It seemed like forever to Julie, who didn’t really know what to with herself. To her, the glowing ropes and vines had just merged into a big ball of light but apparently her two companions sew more than her as they were still trying to find a loose end somewhere. At least that was what Julie thought they did.

Suddenly, Hecate pointed at something and Pippa nodded.

‘We found the last piece of the memory spell, Julie! Come here, have a look!’

The two witches were gesturing at something inside the light ball but Julie couldn’t make out anything.

She was just about to say so, when unexpectedly, something seemed to shift and she could see the different strands of magic, woven tightly together with eerie precision. After a moment, she was also able to spot the loose end Hecate found.

Without hesitation, Julie reached for it and pulled.


	8. 8.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> Yes, I am still here and I’m terribly sorry that it took me so long to finish this chapter. I simply had some things on my to-do list that had priority but now that they are taken care of, the next chapter will be up much quicker.  
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter – it’s a bit longer than the others because you had to wait so long :)

Undoing a single memory spell was easy. Undoing two wasn’t much harder. Three or four together were a bit more complicated, five were required a little more experience and for six, a certain amount of expertise was required. Everything above that was considered dangerous for a single witch but quite possible for two. But the more charms and spells to undo – so they said – the more finesse was necessary. No one had ever attempted to dis-spell more than 25 of them at once.

If the council knew what two of the most renewed members of the British magical society were doing, they would have surely put them in a lab to monitor the process. Or they would have right-out forbidden them to help Julie at all.

But neither Hecate Hardbroom nor Pippa Pentangle were particularly fond of the council – sure, they both respected the Great Wizard but that didn’t mean that they had to like the rest of them, especially not after the debacle with Agatha. Considering all that, it wasn’t at all surprising that neither witch had seen it fit to inform the council of their ‘project’ – though they were both well aware of the fact that IF something happened in Julie’s mind, it was unlikely that help would arrive in time. It was a good thing that they both were quite confident in their mission – at least until Julie pulled on the rope of magic.

THAT was most certainly NOT how you did this! In fact, it was quite the opposite of what you were supposed to do.

So one could easily imagine Hecate’s and Pippa’s surprise when they were not catapulted out of Julies mind and instead could see how some of the magical knot loosened up. Only a tiny bit, but it did.

The two stared at Julie who had let go of the magic the second they had screamed, only to find them staring at her in disbelief.

‘That…that is NOT how this is supposed to work,’ muttered Pippa finally and sighed at Julie’s questioning glance.

‘You shouldn’t be able to touch this – it’s not your magic, there should be some reaction to you touching it…You didn’t feel anything, did you?’

Julie shook her head. ‘No, nothing – it was cold though;’ she added as an afterthought and nodded towards the magic.

‘Cold? That is unusual…’ Pippa frowned but stopped when she saw the thoughtful look on Hecate’s face.

‘What’s wrong?’

The dark hared witch sighed.

‘I was just thinking – this magic has been in your mind for a very long time, Julie, so it is possible – no, that is what must have happened, there is no other logical explanation…even the strongest magic would have dissolved by now if it hadn’t…’

‘If it hadn’t what?’

‘This magic,’ Hecate gestured at the glowing ropes, ‘is partly yours. That’s why you can touch it.’

‘I don’t –‘

‘That’s genius, Hiccup! Of course, Julie, look. Your magic, though locked away, connected with the only magic around – which was this magic here. So instead of fighting against it to get rid of it again, you magic fed and strengthened it, simply because the knowledge of how to do it is locked here somewhere! Hecate, that is an absolutely brilliant thought!’

‘And what does that mean for me?’ Julie interrupted and Pippa beamed at her.

‘It means that our task is going to be much easier because we don’t have to unravel everything with magic,’ Hecate explained before her bubbly friend could start to elaborate.

‘If we find a knot, you can just pull it apart and then we can take care of it.’

‘Well then,’ Julie said with a very determined expression on her face, ‘What are we waiting for? Let’s get started.’

And that they did. Now that they had found one end of the huge knot, they start to analyse the different spells and then slowly begin to dis-spell them. To their surprise, this was nowhere near as tiring as they had expected, which could easily be blamed on Julie’s magic, too. Now that she had control over it again –more or less – she could detangle the knots from the inside while the two other witches were working on reversing the spells she handed them.

They couldn’t see it but if someone had, they would have seen a spectacular picture. Three women standing next to each other in deep focus, hands raised ad if they were conducting an invisible orchestra – only that their orchestra was their magic, twirling around them. It marched together to layer itself around the vines of binding magic to dissolve them into sparks. Pink for Pippa, golden for Hecate and a light, almost white blue that was Julie’s magic. It was a beautiful spectacle but neither of them noticed.

They were working as if in trance, not letting themselves be distracted by anything. It could have been hours or only minutes before they stopped for the first time – the great, big bulk of magic created on the day Julie’s memory had been taken, was gone.

Well, almost gone. Pippa and Hecate slowly lowered their arms as they stared at the magic that now trailed backwards to Julie’s earlier memories. Apparently Broomhead had stared on this day and worked her way backwards only to come back to the then present to complete her spellwork. Considering the look on Julie’s face, she had just realised the same thing.

‘This is going to take forever!’ She groaned. ‘We’ll have to do everything twice!’

Pippa looked equally annoyed at that thought but Hecate…well, she didn’t seem the least surprised.

‘She’s always been thorough,’ she muttered and sighed. ‘On the bright side, Julie, we’re already done with the worst – it doesn’t seem like there is another part as bad as this one.’

‘Then let’s get on with it, or we’ll start to root here,’ smiled Pippa brightly, once again cheerful and energetic.

Julie looked at her two friends and was suddenly struck by the absurdity of the situation. She was undoing magic with two almost-strangers who had convinced her that she was a witch who had lost her memories. If she didn’t know better, Julie thought, she would think that she had lost her mind instead. So now she just sighed and nodded.

‘Right. What do I do?’

‘Just do what you did before,’ instructed Hecate, ‘then we work our way backwards.’

Without further ado, the three witches went back to work and both Julie and Pippa had to agree with Hecate: This was much easier and quicker than the first part of unravelling the knot. All they had to do now was roll up the magic like a hawser and whenever they reached the end of one spell, they would make it dissolve and burst into sparks.

It was hard to tell the time that had passed when you were in a mind but it didn’t seem to take long until they reached the end of the memory cabinet. There though, they stopped with a groan.

‘AGAIN?!’

‘Not another one! This is going to take FOREVER!’

‘What did you expect?’ chastised Hecate the two blondes. ‘That we would just be able to go back now? I told you that she is very thorough.’

Pippa mock-glared at her friend.

‘Yes yes, you told us – Julie, are you okay doing this again?’

Julie straightened herself and nodded.

‘Of course. I really want to get this over with.’

This time, unravelling the knotted strands of magic was much easier – oh, it was still hard work that demanded all their concentration and focus but now they had some more practice in what to do and how to work together most efficiently.

Just as they were unfastening the last knot, Pippa saw a slight shift in the magic. A quick look at Hecate’s frowning face told her that her friend had also felt that something was off – Julie on the other hand, hadn’t done so and was completely unaware of the difference when she reached for another strand.

‘Don’t!’

Pippa’s warning came too late.

‘AU!’

Julie pulled her hand back as if she had touched hot iron and stumbled a few steps away from the cabinet.

‘What the hell was that?’ she asked and glared at her two companions accusingly while she cradled her hand to her chest.

‘That was the normal reaction to touching magic that’s not your own – though you didn’t faint, so it wasn’t as strong as it should be,’ Hecate explained drily. And was immediately met with protest from Julie.

‘It hurt like –‘

‘– like it burnt you – that’s what it should feel like.’

‘But it didn’t before…’

Pippa frowned. ‘I suppose we could have triggered something when there,’ she pointed at the first set of drawers that was now only locked through one single strand of magic. ‘It probably realised that it is threatened, now that your magic is working against it, Julie. And that’s why it is working against you …’

‘And what now?’

‘Now we do this the proper way – heavens, let me see your hand.’ Hecate rolled her eyes and waved her hand over Julie’s burnt fingers. They were still angrily red but the pain stopped immediately and Julie’s eyebrows shot up.

‘Thank you.’

‘Don’t. We still have to take care of that physically when we get out of here. For now I just banned the pain.’

‘Oh. Well, still, thank you.’ The dark haired witch rolled her eyes at that and both Pippa and Julie had to bite back a smirk.

‘So, how do you do this PROPERLY then?’

‘Just watch,’ Pippa smiled and then started to wrap her own magic around the ropes. It took only a second for Hecate to join her and after watching them for a few moments, Julie understood what they were doing. Instead of letting Julie rip the magic from the shelf with her hands, they were now completely covering the magic with their own, that way loosening it from the drawers. Then they did the same thing they had done before and it dissolved, leaving only some colourful sparks. It didn’t take long for Julie to feel confident enough to join them and once again they fell into their trancelike working-mode.

It took long. Even with their deranged feeling for the passing of time they could tell that. Slowly but steadily they made their way back towards the present. Once they reached the last knot, the leftovers from the first one they unravelled on the day the memories had been taken, all three of them were obviously putting a strain on their magic. But one look at each other was enough to keep them going, despite the danger doing so put them in.

Unfortunately, this last bit of hostile magic was fighting back, refusing to come off and nothing they did seemed to work.

‘It’s not working!’ Julie stated the obvious and threw her hands up. Pippa tried to hide that she was panting a little by putting her hands on her hips but there really was no reason for it. Even Hecate looked tired, though she was probably the least affected of the three.  Looking back and forth between the two blondes she sighed.

‘We should leave and come back for this day.’

‘You can’t be serious!’ Pippa exclaimed, which earned her a scolding look but Julie cut in before Hecate even had a chance to say anything.

‘If we leave like this it might spread again.’

‘She’s got a point there, Hiccup!’

‘Both of you look about ready to pass out and personally I wouldn’t fancy being stuck as a disembodied spirit for the rest of eternity because you lose consciousness, Julie!’

The woman swallowed but Pippa rolled her eyes.

‘Let’s try one more time. We’ll stop immediately if anyone feels too bad and after this one try we leave, even if it doesn’t work. Please?’

The pleading look in Pippa’s eyes made Julie’s heart clench. These women were risking EVERYTHING to help her – once they got out, she really had of way to thank them properly. But first things first, which meant taking care of the last bit of magic in front of them. Hecate rolled her eyes at her friend’s plea but gave in.

‘Fine. We’ll try one more time and then we leave.’

With a nod of agreement all three of them reassumed their positions. This time, they used all the power they could spare but still, nothing seemed to happen. Their magic couldn’t get a hold of the ropes and if it did, it slipped again after a few seconds.

Julie was just about to say that they should really give up for when she actually got hold of a strand. Her surprised gasp drew the others attention and they quickly joined her efforts. Finally they were getting somewhere!

Pushing their exhaustion aside they once again started pulling and tucking and it seemed like the knot was finally unravelling. But again and again they seemed to be stuck, the final knot just wouldn’t come apart.

And then, all of a sudden, a shudder ran through the magical rope, into their magic, towards them – and everything burst into nothingness.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> I am back and I am very sorry for having abandoned you so long! There are no excuses to make, really, other than having a busy real life that took up a lot of time and left little for writing.  
> I hope that there are still some people who are reading this story – thanks at this point to all those of you who left little reviews just to ask when I would continue this.  
> Originally, this chapter and what I have already written for the next one were supposed to be a long one but after typing and changing a lot here, I decided to split it so I could upload this right away. I’d love to hear what you think about it!

When Mildred stepped into the silent flat on Saturday afternoon, she was prepared. More or less, at least. She didn’t freak out like last time when she got no response to her ‘I’m home!’-call and quietly went to put her bags down before venturing towards the kitchen.

Enid had said that if her mum, HB and Miss Pentangle were still ‘working’, she should just leave them to it and not interrupt them. She had, however, failed to mention what she should do if they sat at the kitchen table with their eyes closed in deep concentration one moment and the next all screeched at the same time, then shivered and passed out without any warning.

Mildred stared dumbfounded at the three women who had seemed perfectly fine only seconds ago. Now Miss Pentangle looked ready to fall from her chair, Miss Hardbroom’s head had fallen on one of her arms and her mum had simply toppled forward, her forehead on the table between their still joined hands.

It took Mildred a moment to take the scene in front of her in but she instantly realised that something was very, very wrong. So she did the only thing she could think of: She ran back into the hall, stood in front of the big mirror and send of an emergency call to Miss Cackle.

  
Ada Cackle sat at the desk in her office, sipping tea without thinking of any evil when all of a sudden the peace was interrupted by an all too familiar voice calling out for her.

‘Miss Cackle? Miss Cackle, please answer! Can you hear me?’

It took a moment but then she located the origin of the voice and looked at Mildred’s face on her shiny tea tray.

‘Good gracious, Mildred! Is everything alright?’ she asked with a concerned frown but the girl shook her head violently.

‘No, Miss Cackle! It’s my mum, and Miss Hardbroom and Miss Pentangle, something is wrong with them! They just collapsed and won’t wake up now!’

Now that didn’t make much sense to Ada but Mildred’s distress was genuine and while she really couldn’t think of a reason for both Hecate and Pippa to be with Miss Hubble, she was certain that Mildred wouldn’t make something like that up. So she nodded at her student.

‘Where are you, Mildred?’

‘At home – please hurry, Miss Cackle!’

‘Don’t worry, Mildred, I’ll be right there.’

And before Mildred even had time to blink, the headmistress was standing next to her.

‘Where are they?’ Miss Cackle wanted to know and was pointed to the door on her right.

The sight that greeted her when she stepped in shocked Ada to the core but luckily she could catch herself before poor Mildred realised that. Since she had no idea what had happened here to cause two of the most powerful witches in Britain to just pass out, Ada started with a quick general check-up that would show her if anything major was wrong.

Nothing showed up, though. Everything seemed perfectly fine, except for their extreme exhaustion – both magically and physically. All THREE of them.

While Ada was not sure how that could be explained, she was fairly certain that it had something to do with whatever Hecate had not told her – maybe Mildred could tell her a bit more about that, if she even knew anything at all. Considering that both Pippa Pentangle and Hecate Hardbroom were involved, there wasn’t anything that she would deem impossible. For the time being, however, her focus had to be on more important matters.

She turned to smile at Mildred.

‘There is nothing wrong with them, dear, they’ll just need to sleep for a while.’

Mildred visibly relaxed at that but then she frowned at her teacher.

‘Do we just…leave them like that?’ she asked and Ada chuckled.

‘No, I think we should make them a little more comfortable. Maybe you can levitate your mother to her bedroom?’

‘I’d like to but…’

‘…you don’t know how, I see. Come here, next to me, I’ll show you. All you have to do is this-‘ Ada waved her hand and gently corrected Mildred until she got it right too. ‘And then the spell:   
_Light as air, no gravitation_  
up you float, in levitation.  
There you go, that’s it, Mildred. Right on the first try!’

Mildred smiled, surprised at her own achievement and Ada couldn’t help but be proud of her.

‘Now, why don’t you take your mother to her room and I take care of these to?’

The girl nodded and gently manoeuvred her mother out into the hall. As soon as she had left the kitchen, Ada disapprovingly shook her head at her colleagues but then conjured to small beds in the sitting room and levitated them there with a wave of her hand.

By the time Mildred got back, she had put on the kettle to make some tea and summoned a tray with teacakes, sandwiches and scones.

‘I believe that for once, none of this has anything to do with you, Mildred. But I think you know what it is all about,’ she started and the girl confirmed it with a nod.

‘Yes, Miss Cackle.’

‘Then come and sit down and then you can tell me everything over tea.’

‘Well…alright. But it’s kind of a long story…’ Mildred started hesitantly but Ada just nodded encouragingly.

‘I believe we have plenty of time.

‘Alright then.’

And then she started the tale and Ada couldn’t quite believe everything she was hearing there. She didn’t dare to interrupt Mildred once and by the time the girl finished, she was absolutely flabbergasted.

‘So Miss Hardbroom and Miss Pentangle used a spell you don’t know to recover your mother’s memories,’ Miss Cackle started slowly after a long moment of silence and Millie nodded.

‘Yes, that’s what my mum told me. Miss Pentangle because she’d done some research on that, so HB thought it would be good if she was there too. But no one told me what exactly they were doing.’ She felt a little bad when she saw the look on her headmistress’s face but then Mildred decided that this was Ada Cackle and whatever happened, she would always trust Miss Cackle. And while her mother had asked her not to tell her friends about her plans with ‘Hecate and Pippa’, nobody had forbidden her to tell Miss Cackle about it. And anyway, if there was anyone else they would have involved, Millie would bet that they would have chosen Miss Cackle.

Mildred gave her teacher a curious look.

‘Is something wrong, Miss Cackle?’

The witch sighed.

‘I believe I know what they were doing, Mildred. If I am not mistaken, they went into your mother’s mind to fight the spell on its roots.’

‘That sounds sort of like mum said.’

‘Indeed. Then they are very lucky to all be fine…’ she mumbled but apparently not quietly enough because Mildred frowned at her.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, the way you described everything to me, what happened right before you called me – that sounds like they were catapulted out of your mother’s mind. You have to remember that they were trying to undo powerful memory magic that has been there for well over twenty years – don’t think that attempting something like that isn’t dangerous and draining. When you are in someone else’s mind, your soul and mind are disconnected from your body. So if you get lost there or you don’t have enough magic left to take you back to your body, it is almost impossible to reconnect everything again.’

Mildred stared at her and Ada was well aware that she had no idea before of the danger the three women had been in.

‘But, they are…you said they were fine!’ she said, her voice trembling and Ada nodded.

‘They are fine, Mildred. Both Hecate and Pippa are capable witches and they knew what they were doing. They wouldn’t have used too much of their magic, they know their limits.’

‘Then why…?’

‘It’s quite simple. The sudden reunion with their bodies, coupled with their exhaustion, made them pass out. If they were successful, which I hope they were, then your mother is likely in a magically induced sleep.’

‘Why?’

‘Well, I imagine that there are plenty of memories that were inaccessible to her and now her mind needs time to revalue them, go through them and sort them. And that is best done while she is asleep, otherwise she’d just get confused until everything is in place again.’

‘That sounds very complicated.’

‘It is, my dear. Though I would really like to know WHAT had them kicked out so abruptly…’

‘Well,’ Mildred said, cheerful again, ‘we’ll just have to ask them when they wake up. How long do you thing they will sleep?’

‘I have absolutely no idea, Mildred.’

‘Oh.’

‘I’m sure that at least Hecate and Pippa won’t sleep too long – maybe until the evening? In the meantime, though…have you already started your summer project?’

‘Yes, I have,’ Mildred answered with a frown. ‘Why?’

‘Well,’ Miss Cackle smiled, ‘since I am not going to leave you alone for who-knows-how-long, we might as well see if there is anything I can help you with.’

‘Really?’ The girls eyes went wide and she jumped up, almost knocking over her chair. ‘I’ll get it right away!’


	10. 10.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!   
> I finally managed to finish this chapter and I hope you’ll all like it. At the moment I am planning on two more chapters, maybe three. I hope writing them won’t take too long but I there is another short story I am working on right now and that I’d like to get off my mind first.   
> For now, I hope you will enjoy this chapter!

At first, there was nothing.

Then she could hear noises which eventually turned into faint voices. It took a while but they got clearer any passing second and finally she recognised them as Mildred Hubble and Ada Cackle.

Then her other senses slowly returned. She was lying on something unfamiliar but soft, maybe a bed?

It smelled of soothing lavender and mint, someone had made tea.

Finally, she managed to open her eyes and she blinked a few times before she realised that she was in Julie Hubble’s sitting room.

And that broke the dam and the memories came rushing back, everything that happened in Julie’s mind, how they worked towards that last knot and – with a start, Pippa sat up.

The sun was barely visible behind the mountains on the horizon and Hecate was asleep on a cot next to her. Considering who was in the kitchen, they were probably a courtesy of Miss Cackle.

‘Hiccup? Hecate, wake up,’ she whispered and softly started shaking her friend. It took a moment but then the dark haired witch stirred.

‘What’s wrong, pipsqueak?’ she mumbled sleepily without even opening her eyes.

‘We have to check on Julie.’

‘Julie? JULIE!’ she sat up so abruptly that she almost crashed into Pippa but she didn’t seem to notice. At least she was awake now.

‘Heavens, Pippa, what happened?’

‘I don’t know. But we should check on her.’

‘We should indeed,’ was Hecate’s answer but Pippa caught her arm before she could get up.

‘Ada and Mildred are in the kitchen.’

‘WHAT?’ she hissed but Pippa just shrugged and pointed to the door that led into the hallway.

‘That way.’

They managed to sneak into the hall and past the kitchen without any noise that would rouse the suspicion of the two other witches but both of them felt like they went back in time, to their own schooldays at Amulet’s. Back then, Pippa had regularly convinced Hecate to join her on midnight trips to the kitchen for hot chocolate and cake or the rooftops to look at the stars. And somehow they had managed not to get caught a once during their five years there. Not that it was something they ever told anyone about – their students would run riot if they ever found out!

The point, though, was that Pippa and Hecate made it to Julie’s room – or what they thought to be Julie’s room – undetected.  They had indeed picked the right room because in the middle stood a big bed with a fast asleep Julie on it.

‘Do you think she’s alright?’ asked Pippa and carefully sat down next to her blonde friend. Suddenly, she was scared that maybe she wasn’t alright, that something had gone terribly wrong. She looked up at Hecate.

‘Do you remember what happened?’

The other woman frowned as she tried to recall the last moments in Julie Hubble’s mind.

‘I think,’ she began slowly, ‘that we managed to undo that last knot but I am not entirely sure.’

Pippa nodded.

‘Maybe Julie knows some more,’ she answered and gently placed a hand on Julie’s forehead. ‘I’ll see if she is really alright, maybe help her get some order into her memories.’

‘Are you sure you are up for that?’ Hecate asked, somewhat concerned about her old friend – but also about Julie – but Pippa just nodded.

‘I feel surprisingly good – don’t you?’ She didn’t wait for an answer and instead closed her eyes. Her lips moved silently and then her shoulders slightly slumped down, a sure sign for Hecate that she had disconnected her mind once again.

Julie’s mind was a mess. If someone had a traumatic experience, one could find several drawers of their memory-chest pulled out and memories piled up near the door, but this…Pippa had never seen anything like it. There wasn’t a drawer in place as far as Pippa could see and most of the memories were flying around. _FLYING._ And there was no sign of Julie, which was probably the most concerning thing about the situation. Still, Pippa wasn’t one to give up easily so instead of retreating, she set out to find her friend.

It didn’t take her anyway near as long as she had expected. She found Julie about halfway down the shelf, sitting cross-legged on the floor with her eyes fixed on what looked like an enormous film-screen in the space across. The woman’s focus was on the ‘film’ that played there, which was obviously a memory. On the other side, Julie had already closed many of the drawers again and Pippa realised that those were the memories Julie had already ‘watched’.

The process was quite simple. If a witch or a talented wizard wanted to recall a specific memory, they would go to their own cabinet, pull out the drawer and watch the memory like a film. Only that instead of being an outsider, one was instead put back into your younger self’s body so you could relive the memory.

Knowing all that, Pippa waited quietly until the memory finished and Julie came back to ‘reality’. It didn’t actually take too long – memories tended to be over faster than the real event.

When Julie opened her eyes again, she was silent for a long moment before turning to look at Pippa.

‘I am looking at all these memories,’ she whispered, ‘and all I can think is ‘how could I ever forget?’ And I keep telling me it wasn’t my fault, that I didn’t choose to forget but still…and then I think of all the things that were put into their place and I wonder how I wouldn’t realise that something was missing…’ She stopped and for a moment, Pippa was speechless. Not because she didn’t know what to say but because she didn’t know how.

‘You couldn’t have realised it,’ she eventually began, ‘because in all you remembered, there was the underlying feeling of something being missing.’

‘You’re right…of course you’re right.’ Julie looked up. ‘Are you and Hecate okay?’

Pippa nodded.

‘We are perfectly fine. I think we’ve scared your daughter though because when we went to check on you, she was in the kitchen with Miss Cackle.’

‘Oh – but she’s alright?’

‘I think so – really Julie, I was more worried about you than about Mildred!’

At that, Julie couldn’t help but laugh. Who would have ever thought that anyone would say such a thing and mean it? Probably no one who knew Mildred. Still, it was nice to know that she suddenly had friends who cared for her, she thought. Then Julie looked up to Pippa again.

‘I’m fine. I’m just…well, sorting through things. Looking at everything – it takes a while, you know?’

‘Of course. You just keep sorting and I’ll go back and tell everyone that you are perfectly fine. I just wanted to make sure.’

She beamed and Julie couldn’t help but smile back. Just as the witch was about to turn around and leave, Julie grabbed her hand. Pippa frowned slightly.

‘I just wanted to say thank you, Pippa. Really, thank you for helping me with all ... this,’ she gestured to the memories around her and Pippa beamed at her.

‘You’re very welcome – but no I must go, so you can keep remembering! And later you can tell us all about the things you know again!’

She gave Julie a last bright smile and then her image burst into a million of pink sparks that slowly sank to the ground and disappeared.

 

* * *

 

 

‘Good evening, Miss Pentangle.’

It was Ada Cackles calm voice who greeted her back into the physical world and Pippa whirled around. The elder witch was standing in the door and there was no sign of Hecate.

‘Good evening, Miss Cackle,’ she answered, maybe a little belated but she had needed a moment to collect herself again.

Taking her answer as a good sign, Miss Cackle nodded towards the hallway with her gently smile.

‘Hecate is in the kitchen with Mildred – I believe it would be better if we redeem them for now.’

Pippa nodded frantically, she was well aware that while Hecate might have become Julie’s friend by now, she was still Mildred’s teacher and they didn’t see eye-to-eye in most matters.

So imagine the headmistresses surprise when they came into the kitchen and found Hecate reading Mildred’s essay over the girl’s shoulder, occasionally remarking on a phrase or pointing out a mistake.

‘Well, look at that,’ Pippa giggled, ‘The two of you can actually get along!’

Hecate looked up and glared at her but Mildred burst into giggles as well and Ada looked like she had to bite back a smile of her own. Still, it was the girl who sobered up again first to give Pippa a piercing look.

‘Is my mum alright, Miss Pentangle?’ she asked and if you listened closely, you could detect a hint of fear in her voice. Pippa gave her a soothing smile as she sat down next to her and took her hands.

‘Your mother is perfectly well, Mildred, there is absolutely no need for you to worry. I was just talking to her – in her mind – and she is sorting through all the memories that have been locked away for the past 24 years. It will take a while but I believe she is up and about again in the morning.’

Mildred beamed when she heard this.

‘Thank you so much, Miss Pentangle – and you too, Miss Hardbroom! Now I’m not the only witch in the family anymore and – ‘She stopped suddenly and frowned as if she had realised something.

‘If my mums actually a witch and I am a witch, doesn’t that mean that my grandma and auntie Mo are witches as well?’ she asked.

The three adults looked at each other and sighed simultaneously. There was so much Mildred didn’t know – couldn’t know – because of Mistress Broomheads’ cruelty.

‘Well -,’ Hecate started but Pippa interrupted her.

‘I don’t know about the three of you, but I am rather hungry – we did use a lot of our energy, Hecate. I’ve got a menu from the ‘witch penny delivery’ somewhere, unless anyone is up to cooking right now? I’m certainly not –well then, is there anything special you want? Mildred? Ada?’

‘There is magical take out?’ Mildred asked incredulously before either of the two women even had the chance to say anything.

‘Of course there is!’ Pippa exclaimed and with a wave of her fingers, she handed her a glossy purple menu. The girl stared at it for a moment before shaking her head and flicking through it, occasionally raising her eyebrows when she came across an odd dish.

A few minutes later, Pippa went into the hallway to mirror-order their delivery while Ada and Hecate stared explaining to Mildred why her aunt and grandmother didn’t necessarily have to be witches as well.

‘Perhaps they didn’t even know that your mother was one,’ Hecate explained later, ‘you didn’t know you had magic until Maud crashed onto your balcony, so it might be that her magic didn’t show until she was older as well. You said that she told you about attending a boarding school as well, it is possible that it was a school for witches and she never told her mother.’

‘But perhaps we shouldn’t speculate right now,’ interrupted Miss Cackle and both Pippa and Hecate agreed with a nod. ‘I’m sure your mother will be able to answer all your questions in the morning.’

‘I hope so,’ was Mildred’s answer. She yawned. It was late, long past her usual bedtime and the adults seemed to realise that as well. With another yawn she excused herself and when she came back from brushing her teeth to turn of the light in the kitchen, she found that it wasn’t empty.

‘I sent Ada and Hecate home but they’ll be back in the morning, dear. You should go to bed now it’s really late,’ Miss Pentangle smiled. Mildred felt herself nod but then she frowned.

‘What about you?’ she asked and the woman chuckled.

‘Well, I’m staying – I hope you don’t mind but we can’t really leave you here on your own now, can we?’

‘My mum is right in there,’ Mildred pointed out and vaguely gestured towards Julies bedroom. But once again the blonde witch just smiled.

‘That may be but she is still not back to normal yet and I don’t think that she would be too happy if I just left you alone. Besides, I’d like to be here – just to make sure she’s really okay.’

Well, that made sense to Mildred, so she simply nodded. She was way too tired to fight about it and with a ‘Goodnight, Miss Pentangle’ she left the kitchen and went to bed.

And while everyone was asleep – Mildred and Julie in the flat and Ada and Hecate up in the caste – Pippa sat silently with a cup of hot chocolate and watched the hours pass until morning.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This might well be the longest chapter in this story yet. I wanted to write some of it but then I ended up writing it all in one go so I can actually post this earlier than expected. There are probably one or two chapters left and with a little luck the next one won't take to long to write.   
> As for this one, well, why make up a new backstory when ther is one I can adapt? I really hope you are not too mad at me about that, though would love to hear your theories about what happened :)

‘Good morning sunshine.’

‘MUM!’

Mildred jumped towards her mother and pulled her in a tight hug. Julie smiled and rustled her hair.

‘Are you okay, mum?’

‘I’m better than ever, love. What would you like for breakfast? French toast? Pancakes? Or something else – is everything alright, Millie?’

Julie gave her daughter a concerned look when the girl didn’t answer and just continued to beam at her. Finally, she grinned at her mother.

‘I’m great mum! Do you remember what happened now? Do you remember being a witch?’

A shadow passed over Julie’s face but it was so quick that Mildred didn’t even notice it. She was way to exited after all that happened during the last week, especially last night. Suddenly, she frowned.

‘Wasn’t Miss Pentangle going to stay?’

‘O, she did.’ Julie smiled. ‘But I send her up to the castle after she gave me another check-up – every girl needs her beauty-sleep.’

At that, Mildred giggled and grinned.

‘Sooo,’ her mother laughed and took out two plates, ‘what did you say you wanted for breakfast?’

‘Can we have pancakes?’

‘We sure can.’

And with a wave of Julie’s hand, the batter put itself together and within a minute she was frying the first pancake. Mildred was staring at her in awe.

‘That’s AMAZING, mum!’ She squealed and almost knocked over a chair with her jumping around the kitchen. But for once, her mum didn’t seem to mind at all, she just laughed.

‘It is. It is, Millie. And now that I remember it, I can teach you about all the things your friends at school already know.’ Surprisingly, Mildred just threw her arms around her from behind, as if she didn’t mind the thought of even more studying this summer at all. Then again, with the two of them it wouldn’t be like the studying for lessons at school and therefore it needn’t be dreaded. Right?

Mildred certainly seemed to think so, considering that she already went through all the things that she really desperately wanted to know. Julie just smiled, content to listen to her chatter while she was finishing the last of the pancakes. Just when she was about to turn the last one around one more time, Mildred stopped rather suddenly.

‘Mum?’, she asked. ‘If you are a witch, and I am a witch, then why are auntie Mo and Nanna no witches?’

Julie sighed. Of course Mildred would ask this question sooner rather than later – even though she had hoped that she would have a little more time to prepare an answer.

‘Well…you do know that Mo is not actually my sister, right?’ Mildred nodded. ‘She’s actually my cousin, my mum’s brother’s daughter. But when uncle Ben and Auntie Jane died, my mum and dad took her in and we were raised together, just like sisters.’

‘But then why doesn’t auntie Mo have magic?’

‘Well,’ Julie said as she placed the stack of pancakes in the middle of the table between them and sat down, ‘you know that magic is only given from mother to daughter, right?’

Mildred nodded, understanding dawning on her.

‘Nanna’s from a magic family but between her mum and Mo there was uncle Ben, and the magic didn’t pass through him, right?’

‘Yes, that is exactly what happened, Millie. Uncle Ben couldn’t get any magic from his mother because he was a boy, so Mo couldn’t get it from him.’

‘But then why isn’t Nanna a witch, mum?’

‘That, Millie, is a … well, it’s a bit more complicated than just being a witch or not. Oh, you don’t have to look at me like that, love, I’ll explain it to you. Later, alright?’

‘When later?’

‘After breakfast. You need to get ready, we’ve got to be at Cackle’s at 11.’

‘But walking up there takes ages, mum!’

‘Who said anything about walking?’ Julie smirked and Mildred gave her a confused look. It was a long moment of silence until the penny finally dropped.

‘We’re going to transfer?!’

‘Quite right. Now, eat up before the pancakes get all cold.’

And they dug in without realising that as witches, they were perfectly capable of using a warming charm to keep their food hot. But they had indeed been living a non-magical life for a long time and some habits don’t break from one moment to the next.

 

* * *

 

 

At 10.55am, Mildred and Julie appeared right at the front gate of Cackle’s and Julie sighed in relief. She had transferred around their flat in the morning, to see whether she could still do it or not, and it had worked just fine. But nevertheless had she been a little worried that it wouldn’t work out, transferring to the school with Mildred. Then again, if she hadn’t been sure she could actually do it, she wouldn’t have – she’d never put Mildred in danger like that.

She shook her head and smiled at her daughter, who had just raised her hand to knock – but someone pulled the door open from the other side and Mildred almost hit Miss Hardbroom. Almost, because she managed to pull her hand back right before it touched the startled teacher.

‘Hubbles,’ she mumbled under her breath as she stepped aside to let them in but Julie was pretty sure she heard amusement in that tone.

It was actually the first time that Julie _walked_ into Miss Cackles office, where a tea table was already set for five people. She had been here before, but she had always been transferred there – she should really have a word with Hecate later, about her terrible habit of transferring people like that, without warning them! What if they were in the shower or asleep or in another inconvenient situation?

‘Are you going to tell us now why Nanna isn’t a witch?’ Mildred pulled her out of her thoughts and Julie smiled.

‘Nanna?’ Miss Cackle interrupted, apparently a little confused who Mildred was referring to.

‘My mother. I already explained to Millie that Mo, my sister, is no witch because her dad is my mum’s brother – my parents took her in after he and his wife died.’

‘Ah, right. Well, then please, do tell, Ms Hubble.’

‘You know, we,’ Pippa pointed at Hecate and herself, ‘actually looked up the magical registry this morning and there is no one listed as Hubble.’

‘We are no witches? But mum and I- ‘

‘You should really let people finish, Mildred. We did find something else, two witches from a family that was thought to be extinct: The Hubbard family.’

‘And they were marked as Julieta and Mildred.’

Everyone looked at Julie now, who just nodded. She took a moment to compose herself and think of a right way to begin before she finally started.

‘In 1696, a witch named Mirabelle Hubbard was born. Because she was quite powerful, she soon became the protector of her coven. But one day, after she helped another witch give birth to a daughter, some evil entered their caves and eventually it turned out to be a witch. A witch who was looking for power and thought she would find it the Morlyn-Covens sacred caves. And she was right, because that is where they kept their founding stone. Do you know what that is, Millie?’

Mildred shook her head and looked at her mum expectantly but it was Miss Cackle who answered instead.

‘A founding stone is an ancient magical object, and no one knows has seen one in centuries. They once belonged only to the old covens, like the Morlyn one, and worked as a charger for magical energy. Because a founding stone helps to stabilise young magic and absorbs the magic that is flying around unneeded, the old magic council declared that the very first witching academy would be provided with a founding stone as well. When more schools were founded, some of them – like Cackles – were also granted a founding stone to boost the wards and help the students.’

‘So this founding stone, love,’ Julie took over from the headmistress smoothly, ‘and it has been charged with surplus magic for over a millennium. It would have been bursting with magic, and of course that was something that would attract a lot of evil witches. And usually, they wouldn’t have a chance for Mirabelle and the other witches were quite capable of defending their coven. But that day...they were all needed somewhere else and they didn’t even notice that someone was in the sacred cave until it was too late.’

Julie stopped again and took a sip of her tea. No one spoke, the story was to captivating and no one wanted to break the tension in the room by asking a question.

‘The witch found the founding stone and simply took all its powers, absorbed them to merge with her own and make her the most powerful witch. The only trouble for her was that the founding stones magic was too much for her – it was, after all, one of the eldest covens in Britain and a lot of powerful witches had left some of their magic to linger and be absorbed by the stone after their death.  
You know how hard it is to try and hold on to someone else’s magic if you are not just working on a spell together – yet the witch tried to keep in all the magic and you can imagine what it led to.’

All the adults nodded but Mildred shook her head.

‘What happened to her, mum?’

‘She got consumed by the magic, Mildred. It tore her apart and I am sure that there was nothing left of her afterwards. Only magic,’ Hecate explained and Pippa added, ‘Just like spontaneous self-ignition, you know?’

Mildred did know and with a nod she told her mum to continue.

‘So, the witch was dead now but the founding stone…well, it had been stripped of all it’s magic. The Morlyn coven would be the first and only one to find out that if you do that, you reverse the founding stone’s nature. Instead of storing and providing magic, it would now consume and destroy all the magic it could find. And not only in the air around but also from the caves themselves – and once there was no magic left in the ground and the walls, it would turn to the witches. Starting from the stone itself, the dark ice - you could maybe call it the ‘anti-magic’, Millie, because it makes it impossible for magic to come near it without being absorbed – well, the dark ice spread. All through the caves.

The coven tried to find a way to reverse the powers of the stone but eventually they were all taken by the ice and Mirabelle was the only witch left. Desperate to save her coven, she went back to the founding stone and tried to fuel it with her own powers. But she realised that she wasn’t powerful enough on her own – and she did the only thing she could think of. She gave the stone her powers and those of her daughter – and her daughters, and theirs. Nothing happened but at the twelfth generation, Mirabelle could feel her powers disappear and suddenly the founding stone was re-ignited. And the Hubbard witches would have no magic for the next 12 generations.’

‘You are generation 13, aren’t you, Julie?’ Pippa asked solemnly into the silence that followed Julies words. She nodded.

‘It’s why my mum doesn’t have magic – she is a witch but she her magic was used on that stone. Though I think that even without magic, she is more of a witch than she thought – she called me that day you helped me get back my magic, you know, Hecate? She asked if something about me had changed because she had a hunch…I didn’t think much of it until this morning. Thinking of it, she always knew when something was wrong with Millie AND I think she could see the witches code…’

‘Well, just because she doesn’t have magic that doesn’t mean she is no witch, so it is quite possible that she can still use some of her gifts,’ mused Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom nodded.

‘Quite right. Do you know what happened to the stone after that, Julie?’

‘Unfortunately not. I never got around to do the research on what happened to the coven when I went to College and well, you know what happened there.’

Once again, everyone but Mildred nodded, though Hecate’s eyes darkened rapidly at the mention of Mistress Broomhead’s school. Before Mildred could ask what happened though, Pippa interrupted again.

‘I think I might be able to help with that,’ she chimed in. ‘I never came across what you just told us, Julie, but I did some research on lost Covens a while ago. For the Morlyn coven, there was a lot of talk about ‘an incident’ and ‘the loss of many great witches’ though that was nowhere specified. But I assume it must be this – it did happen in the 1740s, didn’t it?’

‘I think so, yes.’

‘Well, then after Mirabelle gave up her family’s magic, the Hubbard’s left the coven – I don’t know if they had to or if they wanted to leave but the rest of the coven was weakened and they send their children off to schools for the first time instead of teaching them in the coven.’

‘Magic schools were, in a way, the downfall of the old covens. Often times, young witches would finish their schooling and decide that they wanted to stay with their friends, they created their own new covens and the old ones…well, they got smaller and smaller until there was no one left.’ Hecate paused to look around and it was Mildred who asked the question they all had.

‘But what happened to the stone?’

‘No one knows, Mildred,’ she shrugged apologetically. But again, Pippa shook her head.

‘Actually, the Council decided a while ago to search for some of the old founding stones. I’m not sure what for exactly, I mean, we certainly didn’t get one for Pentangles but I know they did find one up in the Highlands, where the Uanie coven used to be.’

‘Can they do that? Just take the founding stones away?’

‘Well, it’s not like there is anyone from that coven left to claim it, right?’

‘So if we found the stone that belonged to Mirabelle’s coven, we could decide what to do with it?’ Mildred asked slowly and in a way, no one was surprised that she had been able to follow their discussion. Despite her absolute incapability to actually listen during class, she was a very clever girl.

And that was actually a very good and valid question none of them had thought about. Realistically, the chances of finding the stone were almost non-existent but in theory? It would certainly be interesting to play that through. Eventually, no now, though.

That was what they told Mildred and with her curiosity satisfied for the moment, she excused herself to go outside and enjoy the sun. The four women talked way past lunchtime, mostly about the things that had changed in magical politics and research since Julie ‘left’ and then a bit about her schooling and what she’d teach Mildred over the summer and at some point Pippa and Ada drifted off to headmistress talk and Julie decided to go looking for Mildred.

She wasn’t even down the first corridor when she realised that Hecate had followed her. With a slight frown, she turned around but then she saw the look on her friends face.

Somehow she knew what was about to come, what Hecate wanted to know. And really, she was the only one who would – could – both ask and understand because she had been there.

‘What did she do to you, Julie?’

‘Probably all the things you imagine she did – Hecate?’

‘Yes?’

‘How…how did you get through that?’

Neither needed to say what they were talking about, they couldn’t possibly. Their time at the witch training college, under the ‘tutelage’ of Mistress Broomhead…it was too painful and in a way, Julie wished that THAT part of her memory stayed forgotten. Now, she looked at Hecate who somehow managed to survive the entire schooling there.  The dark haired women closed her eyes for a moment before she answered.

‘Like you, I suppose. Battered and scared and afterwards I forgot and moved on.’

Julie didn’t say anything to that statement, she just nodded. For a moment, the two of them stood there, a pair of kindred spirits understanding each other.

Then Julie remembered why she actually left the office and with a smile she went off to collect her daughter. Hecate just stood in the hallway, looking after her while a million thoughts ran through her head. The last one before she transferred back into Ada’s office, was perhaps the most unlike HB one.

What would a summer with magic do to a witchling like Mildred Hubble?


End file.
